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The people involved with the setting up and pulling down of the gear
necessary for the time-keeping were Tony Caramia, Phil Trent and John
Davis.
We had to roll out a 1.1km length of coaxial cable to connect a camera on the start line with the monitor at the finish line. Two generators were needed, one for each end for the camera and TV. The time-keepers where Ron Stevens, Daniel Webb with me writing down the results and operating the two-way radio.
We set up three comfortable chairs on the tray of a Nissan tray-back with a shaded frame to keep us cool and safe from the sun.
There were 90 competitors and they came up the hill two at a time. We
ran 3 sets of 30 riders. Each rider gets two test runs to decide their
nominated time. There is a minimum time of 40 seconds set and also a
time for too slow of 2 minutes. The minimum time is set for safety
reasons. This event is not a race, but a trial to see if a rider can
repeat a ride at the same speed each time. If you are outside the limits
you’ll get a bomb and be disqualified.
After nominating a time, the riders do three rides up the hill. The
first two are timed to the second and
the last one is to a tenth of a second. You have to concentrate so you
don’t miss the start and sometimes the finish is really close.
Why do we do it? To be part of the team that draws motorcycle enthusiasts to Albany from all over the state for our premier Hillclimb Weekend. It’s also great to be up the hill away from the noise. There’s not a lot of time to chat or admire the view as the work is pretty constant.
A big thanks goes to Tony Caramia for setting up the monitor as we now
get to see the start and part of the goings on at the bottom of the
hill. It went so smoothly this year - we didn’t get time to watch Days
of Our Lives.