STAWELL - Stawell's dynamic duo Todd and Allan Satchell competed against the best at the National Road Championships in Buninyong last weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The class field meant the race was always going to be difficult for the two boys.
Headlining the impressive group of riders was Tour de France winner Cadel Evans.
Prior to the race both Todd and Allan were just happy to complete the format.
"I just want to finish it and then go from there, but if I finish I'll be happy," Todd Satchell said.
The Satchell brothers have been preparing for this event for the last couple of months, spending the majority of their spare time training.
"Just lately we've been doing 450 kilometres a week. We have done intense hill work and just in general a lot of hours on the bikes," Todd said.
Todd, who is 20 years of age, competed in the under 23 years 137.6 kilometre road race event and started strongly before falling through the middle stages.
Replacing his broken front wheel, he fought on, continuing to minimise the margin between himself and the leading group.
As the race went on the time it took to change tyres and the energy used to make up the ground proved costly.
Todd was forced to withdraw from the race, after having trouble with the over lapping of so many riders due to the 10km short course event.
Of the 117 competitors that began the race, 45 were in a similar situation to Todd and unfortunately could not complete the event.
Allan is three years older than Todd, which saw him enter the open division, elite class.
Allan battled hard on the Sunday in a balmy 28 degrees, but failed to finish the 183.6 kilometre race.
An alarming statistic from the day was that just 41 of the 135 riders completed the elite road race, leaving 94 that abandoned the race showing just how difficult it is.
Despite being disappointing with their weekend's results on the bike both Allan and Todd were happy to have ridden against Australia's best riders in their respective age groups.
Crystal Wemyss also took part in the National road championships.
She finished in 21st position in the time trial during the week but failed to finish in the road race rounding out the Stawell-Great Western Club cyclist's weekend.
