In a way, this year’s Sundowner was a tale of two races and two men. Well, a man and a young man.
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Among the more than 100 riders entered in Saturday’s Keegan Downes Memorial Sundowner Handicap Cycling Classic were a 45-year-old journeyman cyclist and a 17-year-old reigning national champion.
For a large part of the 100km state-open race, Daniel Draheim – a longtime Narrabri local who recently moved to Toowoomba with his family – led as the solo breakaway. A strong tailwind turned into a strong crosswind later in the race.
The brave effort to notch his biggest race victory ended at the 70.3km mark when he suffered a double puncture of the same tyre and then an inflator malfunction. He said he had established a lead of about three minutes over a bunch of limit riders [the first group to start] and was “increasing the gap”. He had started 11 minutes after that group. And he had dared to believe.
“I was only getting stronger,” Draheim said post-race. “So I was half confident at that stage that I may have got the win .. I was pretty cranky with the race gods today. That’s racing. That’s racing. Yeah, [it would have been my] biggest win. So, yeah, gutted.”
Min McDonald, a commissaire for the race, added: “It had been said that Daniel was looking the goods.”
Another rider looking the goods was Kurt Eather, the 17-year-old reigning Australian under-17 road race champion and the 2017 national under-17 cyclist of the year. Dubbo-based Eather spent the first two years of his life in Gunnedah. His grandparents, Joy and Ray Darcey, and Sue and Chris Eather, still live there.
Eather had started 21 minutes behind Draheim, in the chopping block bunch, or the second last group to start. In a sprint finish, he edged five riders. Sean Whitfield, of Canberra Cycling Club, and Tom Hubbard, of New Zealand, came second and third. It’s said that Eather is very hard to beat in that situation. Whitfield and Hubbard, who both started off scratch, recorded the two fastest times.
Eather hopes to compete in the junior world championship next year and then the Olympics. “Yeah, it’s looking pretty good,” he said, in reference to his future. “Hopefully big things can happen.”
Less than 24 hours after the Sundowner, the racing gods turned on Eather, when he was among six riders who crashed at about the 2km mark of the Gunnedah to Tamworth Graded Scratch Races. He dislocated his shoulder, but it “popped back in”, his father, Vaughn, said.
The leading Gunnedah rider in the Sundowner was Ross Durham, the race organiser. He finished in 34th place, five minutes and 24 seconds behind Eather.
Fraser Ashford, of Tamworth Cycle Club, was the best placed rider from the region – finishing in 15th place, 20 seconds behind Eather.
