Races honour great clubmen in Bendigo

THIS Sunday’s leg in the Christmas carnival cycling series in Bendigo will honour two of the Bendigo and District Cycling Club’s finest clubmen.

The Lindsay Harrington Memorial Wheelrace (2000m) and the Terry Schintler Memorial 40-lap A-grade motorpace are feature events on the program at Tom Flood Sports Centre.

Both men were outstanding contributors to the sport across many years.

The Terry Schintler Memorial motorpace will be contested for the first time.

Highs of Schintler’s racing career include the 1984 Austral Wheelrace victory.

There were many starts in the Bendigo International Madison, and third place in the Melbourne to Warrnambool.

Once his racing days were done, Terry Schintler played a crucial role as club secretary for many years and had great support from wife Kerri and children Jacki, Morgan and Todd.

Fields for this Sunday will include Todd Schintler.

The Harrington family involvement with cycling has rolled on for more than 40 years after Terry and Jamie took up racing.

A year ago it was Blackburn’s Nikolas Papadadis who won the Lindsay Harrington Memorial off 130 metres from fast-finishing scratch marker Blake Agnoletto from Bendigo.

Agnoletto had won the classic in 2021 and 2023.

Previous winners of the Lindsay Harrington Memorial include Pat Eddy and Brendan Schultz, while Mt Gambier’s Luke Wight is a triple winner of the classic.

The Godfrey Family omnium for women is also contested across all three legs of the series.

Bendigo’s carnival will include the Victorian elimination championships for under-17 boys and under-17 girls.

The Maillot Jaune Club will sponsor a junior aggregate across the three carnivals.

This Sunday’s racing at Tom Flood Sports Centre in Barnard Street will start with the junior program from 1.30pm.

Senior racing begins at 6pm.

The carnival series starts on Saturday at Castlemaine’s track in Wesley Hill.

Racing at Castlemaine includes the Ken Maddern Snr Memorial Wheelraces for elite men, women and masters.

The Victorian masters scratch championships will be up for grabs, and the under-15s will race the Jonathon Kuhle Memorial Wheelrace.

Castlemaine’s carnival, sponsored by Smart Loans Finance Brokers, starts at 10am.

The carnival finale is on Monday in Shepparton.