Backing up from a trying Tour of Southland last week, Subway Pro Cycling's Nick Lovegrove successfully defended his title for the 110km Fred Ogle Memorial Ride.
The 30-year-old came "home" to Northland from his Auckland base to compete in yesterday's race, which he won comfortably last year and also catch up with family based in Whangarei.
With only a week in between the Fred Ogle ride and finishing the tough Tour, defending his title was never going to be easy, but with plenty of recent top level racing under his belt, Lovegrove dominated the men's field of 80 competitors, winning it in 2hr 47min 6min, faster than last year.
"I felt pretty good after about 20-30km, and my legs remembered what they were meant to do.
"The conditions were good, although there was a bit of wind, which is good for making other people hurt a bit," he quipped.
Riders started the 110km event at Maungakahia Sports Complex before heading out through the back of Jordan Valley to Hukerenui and returning to finish at the sports complex.
Lovegrove was part of a group of eight riders who broke away early, including Auckland rider Nick Jowsey, and Northland's Matthew Markby, Matt Andrew, Lee Johnstone and Ben Johnstone, who was injured in a hit and run on Friday at Otaika Valley Road while out riding.
Johnstone made a gutsy decision to still ride in the event on Saturday, despite feeling grazed and achy from the accident.
"It was a good group, we were all working well together and a few of the guys started to drop off ... then I put the acid on to try and get into a smaller group that would be easier to manage and you can see who's doing the work," Lovegrove said.
Lovegrove, Jowsey and Johnstone established a gap from the chasing group, but Johnstone started to drop back and with 18km to go, Lovegrove took control and charged ahead to ride the rest of the race on his own and win the Fred Ogle trophy for the second time. Jowsey was second, a couple of minutes back and 15-year-old Johnstone bravely finished in third spot to be the first Northland-based rider home.
Lovegrove said it was impressive Johnstone rode and managed to achieve a podium place after what he had been through. "I just read what had happened to young Ben in the paper this morning (Sunday) before the race and then saw he was still riding. I have been hit by a car while out training and it is a traumatic thing to go through ... The young fella bounced back and still performed well which is impressive," Lovegrove said.
Meanwhile, in the women's 110km race for the Lynley McDonald Trophy, former Northland triathlete Nicky Samuels won in 2:59, ahead of Chubby Hale, who has won the event for the past two years, followed by 2008 winner Kim Reyburn.
About 200 riders competed in the 110km, 50km and 25km events.