“The main street was fairly quiet at that stage, it would have been nice to see a bigger roll out,” mayor, race starter and award presenter Steve Toms said.

Thirty-six cyclists, 10 more than last year, had entered the race, including big name entrants Bronwyn Ryan who currently leads the Women’s National Road Series and Louise Kerr who currently holds third. Former Olympic rower turned cyclist Sally Robbins also competed in the event.

At 12:03pm, just on two and a half hours after the start of the race, Port Macquarie rider Lauren Kitchen crossed the line in Inverell, ahead of dead heaters Sue Forsyth and Lauren Rooney.

“It was really hot but a really great race for women,” Kitchen told radio 2NZ after crossing the line.

“It is a really great course, it’s tough, but it’s great to race on country roads.”

Kitchen took out the Sprint Queen while Simone Grounds was crowned Queen of the Mountain.

About three quarters of an hour later, the first A Grade riders descended into Glen Innes.

At approximately 12:45pm, Ben Mather crossed the line first in the A Grade Glen Innes sprint along Lang St, 30 metres ahead of a pack of about nine riders. The sprint was relocated from Grey St to Lang St due to a funeral procession. The sprint took place opposite King George Oval, ironically where a velodrome had just been removed. Riders then continued west and into Lambeth St, rejoining the Gwydir Highway.

The eventual winner of the Grafton to Inverell was Queensland’s Malcolm Rudolph in a thrilling two-man sprint finish in a time of six hours 26 minutes and 49 seconds, ahead of Northern Districts William Clarke.

Meanwhile the hotly contested under 19s Glen Innes to Inverell race was marred by controversy. The leading two riders took a wrong turn at the roundabout near the finish line, following the official racecar. Race officials awarded Kevin Hawes from Port Macquarie first place ahead of Bathurst’s Connor Trott and Illawarra’s Aaron Donnelly. Hawes took out the King of the Mountain and Trott the sprint king.

Cr Toms said planning is now underway for next years 50th anniversary race.