In very cold and blustery conditions, 20 cyclists tackled the Quaranup and Frenchman Bay hills.

First to leave were Bronwyn Alley, Jacqui Grieve, Lucy Wellstead and Corinne Bracknell.

They worked well together and maintained a solid lead.

Last to leave was Burton, who started a daunting two minutes behind the chopping block - a group of six who moved along at a fairly good pace.

Burton caught these riders on the Quaranup Hill, only 15km into the race and continued to ride hard, dragging along those who could keep up.

It remained this way for the next 10km, with groups being passed on the way out to Frenchman Bay.

The group of Welsh, Forte and Lee were passed just before the rather imposing Stony Hill, then half way up, the trio of Grieve, Wellstead and Bracknell had their hopes dashed as the main group sped past.

This was an ideal time to attack, which Burton did, with only two dogged riders, Mike Ruttico and Greg Connell, hanging on over the hill and back again hitting speeds of 75kmh on the downhill.

This built a good lead over the chase pack which had formed.

Connell, Burton and Ruttico formed a truce and worked together all the way back to Little Grove where they noticed the group of Mark Rimell, Glen Tranter, Jimmy Watmore and a few others had made up a lot of ground and were only 100 metres behind.

This spurred Burton into action.

He put in a huge effort, dragging Connell and Ruttico to within a kilometre of the finish line where he attacked again, this time only Connell was able to hang on.

Sensing an opportunity, Connell pounced and briefly hit the lead, only to be passed on the line by Burton who thoroughly earned and deserved his first place.

Connell was second with Ruttico third.

– Greg Connell.