You Said You Wanted a Hilly Road Race, So Here You Go!
Each year after the Super Series is done, we take feedback from Team Managers and riders about what they’d like to see in the next year’s Series. Often we are able to implement this feedback immediately and the event gets better year on year, but one piece of feedback we repeatedly received was for the addition of a hilly road race! This year, we’re delivering on that in spades.
The all-new Gawler Eastlink Kermesse has the potential to be one of the hardest road courses on the South Australian calendar, and it has certainly got a unique profile! Boasting an elevation profile that’s a little untested but hovering somewhere between 150-200m elevation gain for every 5.5km lap and one of the most picturesque hillsides we’ve ever been able to race on (though it seems more and more that all our locations are looking pretty good!), this is going to be one for the ages. Especially fitting given the cancellation of the only other hill in the 2020 Super Series at Lenswood, this is one place the climbers will be able to claw back some all-important series points on the sprinters and crit specialists!
Finding a location to host a race the size of the Super Series is no mean feat, and Cycling SA is grateful to have the support of the Town Of Gawler to bring this event to life. Without the council’s vision we would not be able to close this brand-new connector road (it only opened to the public this month) and race our bikes on it!
Cycling SA CEO Lachie Ambrose is delighted by the new course, saying “It’s always a privilege to be able to run a race on closed roads, and to do so on a brand-new road is even better. We thank the Town of Gawler for their support and hope to continue to grow this event into a regular occurrence on the local cycling calendar.”
The local recreational cycling group, the Gawler Wheelers, have invited any participants who are travelling to the region for the weekend to join them on a ride through the region on the Saturday morning, with more details regarding that ride to come.
Races have been scheduled based on some projected average speeds, and while the races may look short in distance, we expect that most grades will be on course for a similar amount of time to their usual crit time allocation at a Super Series round. Unfortunately, due to the steepness of the hills it has been decided that Junior C and D grade races will not be run at this venue. For full round information including map and schedule, click here.