With fun comes cycle of commitment and passion for team

POWERING through some of Queensland and northern New South Wales’ toughest terrain may not be most people’s idea of fun but that is the cornerstone of David Inglis and Carlos Rolfo’s 27:28 cycling team.

Despite that, team manager David demands commitment and passion.

He is quick to point out that 27:28 cycling is not a club: “It’s a race team.”

27:28 has just launched its new-look team’s assault on the Queensland Teams Series with an expanded list of riders – many of them new faces – and a new captain.

The launch was held at Howard Cameron’s Teneriffe Chiro, on Commercial Road at Newstead, mid-last month and was attended by many of the team’s riders, some of last year’s team who have gone elsewhere and sponsors, which include peninsula businesses Di Bella Coffee and Teneriffe Chiro, and cycling great Henk Vogels who is to provide coaching and training advice and technical support.

Vogels lives on the Sunshine Coast after having returned to Australia following a number of years with the highly successful Fly V Australia team based in the United States.

Team captain, French-born Brit Tom Collier, said the team planned to build on last year’s successful inaugural season at the elite level in the QTS and selected rounds of the National Road Series during which it notched up 70 wins across several age groups and in several different racing disciplines.

Tom, who has just moved from New Farm to Ascot, said the team was  team in 2011. “We had a successful campaign.”

He was the 2010 British Masters Road Race Champion, 2008 4000m Welsh pursuit champion, 1995 junior British 10-mile time trial champion and a Cheshire two-day stage race winner in 2008.

The team has been re-branded team Pensar-Hawk Racing. Last year’s major sponsor Tineli is to continue to supply clothing.

Its elite men’s squad is to ride Unovelo bikes this season as part of the sponsorship deal with ismotion, the Australian importer of Hawk Racing and Unovelo products.

David said he had a three-year plan for the team to become one of the state’s leading teams.

The team began in 2008 when a group of middle-aged men keen to take their cycling further, competed in their first race.

The name 27:28 came about when one of the group was asked what speed they normally rode at: “27/28” (km/h) was the reply and that stuck.

As well being a team developing elite young riders, 27:28 Racing aims to cater for the mature cyclist who has recently discovered the sport.

Two dot points on the team’s long list of goals this year are: 1. To fill the gap left by Peter Thompson who turned professional and the rival Virgin Blue team in the off season; and 2: To beat Peter Thompson.

There are 10 riders in the men’s elite team and seven in the women’s team.

The team also has French rider Maxime Ruphy who is to compete in the under 23 age group.

Among the women riders is Teneriffe’s Nicole Moerig. Her fellow team-members are captain Kirsty Broun, who lists among her accomplishments a podium finish in the Tour of Qatar, Jodie Willett, a former Queenslands elite female road cyclist of the year, Zoe Watters, who has finished second at the Tour of Geelong TT, Ruth Corset, from Townsville, who is a former Australian Road Race Champion, and Katrin Garfoot.

The team has riders spread from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast who are employed as lawyers, engineers, teachers and in bike shops to name a few. Nicole is a high school teacher.

Tom said the team was not a professional one, running on a fraction of the budget of teams such as the new Australian team Green Edge.

Petition calls for end to Gray Street ‘speedway’

A PETITION is being circulated on the New Farm peninsula seeking signatures to “Make Gray Street Safe”.

Resident Alessandra Chenier is a driving force behind the campaign calling on Brisbane City Council to close the road at New Farm within the next financial year.

Ms Chenier said she planned to send the completed document to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, sitting councillors and candidates contesting the city council election next month.

Protesters are concerned that motorists are ignoring the “Local Traffic Only” sign attached to a pole next to the old bus shelter on a “quiet, little street” they share with cyclists and pedestrians.

They claim the street is fast becoming “a speedway” for rat runners avoiding the James Street traffic lights.

Ms Chenier said that more than 160 people so far had signed the petition.

People signing the petition had added comments such as “it’s too dangerous for kids”, “rat running is dangerous, someone will get killed”, “as an 82-year old I find crossing the road very difficult”, “many near misses” and “The present situation is very dangerous”.

A public meeting has already been held on the issue. That meeting, held late last year, was attended by retiring Central Ward councillor David Hinchliffe and the ALP’s candidate to replace him, Paul Crowther.

The petition proposes to turn Gray Street into a cul-de-sac on the Gray Street/Macquarie Street end or the Gray Street/Lamington Street end. A “good compromise” would be to close off Gray Street in the middle, in front of the park.

Ms Chenier said Gray Street served the community as a vital link to the Arbor Walk, Boardwalk, Powerhouse, Casa Italia and New Farm Park.

“The street is signed as a shared area for pedestrians, cyclists and local traffic only,” she said.

“Currently, there are no traffic calming constructions on Gray Street. As a consequence, cars use Gray Street as a shortcut to avoid the traffic lights at the James Street intersection and the speeding traffic is diverted into Gray Street.

“The cars coming from Macquarie Street – which is a long, large and straight street – turn into Gray Street at full speed, which presents a danger to all residents, pedestrians, bicycles, parents with prams and children.

“If Gray Street was turned into a cul-se-sac dead end, speeding traffic would stay on the major thoroughfares and make Gray Street safe for its length and location,”
Ms Chenier said.

Businesses struggle after decision to give cinemas the flick

NEW Farm Village business owners are hoping the Brisbane City Council will step in to help breathe life back into the Village Twin Cinema development, on the corner of Brunswick and Barker streets.

It has been dormant more than four years.

De Rel Gelato owners Luigi and Franca Accornero said their nine-year-old business, on Brunswick Street, has never been the same since the cinema closed for refurbishment in 2003.

“Before nine or 10 o’clock, everything is closed now but, when the cinema was open, it was alive here. We were open to midnight.

According to 2008 news reports, property developer Dare Power began demolition work on the heritage-listed building only to discover poorly built foundations from the 1970s which resulted in the rear half of the building being torn down.

The Village Twin has since stood untouched while developers try to recover from the setback which is believed to have cost them millions of dollars.

Luigi said he believed the only way to bring people back to the Village was to rebuild the cinema.

To add insult to injury, he lamented over the installation of a roadside CityCycle station, on Barker Street, that eliminated five parking spaces in an already limited area, driving customers away.

“The CityCycle is in a bad place. The next street (Balfour Street) already has a station so we don’t need one here. If a footpath is wide enough, why don’t they put them there?” Luigi said.

Parking meter signs along Brunswick Street were put up in 2011 but have not yet been activated, sparking further parking concerns.

“We need spaces for the benefit of the businesses here because, from 4pm-6pm on, Brunswick Street is a ‘clearway’,” Luigi said. “Now people are being fined if they stay more than half an hour or they have to park far away to get here.”

ALP candidate for Brisbane City Council’s Central Ward, Paul Crowther, slammed the council for not consulting with residents and businesses before installing the Barker Street CityCycle station on the road.

He said the station exacerbated the area’s issues, as the corner continued to lay dormant and create a “drag”.

If victorious at next month’s elections, Mr Crowther promised to assist in restarting the Village Twin development, as well as championing the relocation of the CityCycle station to a suitable footpath – a cost that should be covered by JCDecaux and not ratepayers.

“I know that, in terms of private developments, personal conditions and finances have an effect on your ability to develop. What I want the council to do is to find out if there’s any way to assist in getting this development off the ground,” Mr Crowther said. “If that means allowing some discounts on council infrastructure charges as an encouragement or incentive to start developing, then I think that’s what they have to do. They have to be proactive.”

He said reactivating the “derelict building” was paramount to the success of New Farm Village and the council had a responsibility to help the community.

“The business owners want to see something happening with that corner. If the owner doesn’t have the ability to develop it, maybe he should offload it to someone who can actually do it,” he said. “The whole (of Fortitude) Valley is like this. I’ve already outlined my plan to revalue the Valley which includes incentives like I’ve just explained to get the right developments happening.”

Gertie’s bar and lounge owner, Carrie McCarthy, said the council should step in to help the development, which added nothing to the once vibrant and thriving strip.

“People don’t want to sit on one side of the restaurant because they don’t want to stare at the building and all the graffiti. I hear all the time customers talking about its potential,” Carrie said. “They should make this place look more like James Street but it’s hard to drive customers here because the area is already limited in parking and the CityCycle has barely been used.”

She believed the entire CityCycle scheme should be abolished, as relocating the bikes would only cause issues elsewhere.

Dragons enlisted to help improve school zones safety

ZEBRAS are out; dragons are in if the ALP wins back City Hall at the local government elections later this year.

Paul Crowther, who hopes to win retiring councillor David Hinchliffe’s seat of Central, and Lord Mayoral candidate Ray Smith promise they will enlist the help of dragons to help make Brisbane ’s school zones safer.

They plan to use “Dragon’s Teeth” road safety markings around each of Brisbane’s 309 schools – in the first term. The “Dragons Teeth” are white triangle markings painted on either side of the road, coupled with large, brightly-coloured speeds signs on the road.

Mr Crowther said the markings were used extensively throughout New South Wales.

“I have driven on these roads and you simply cannot miss that you are entering a school zone,” Mr Crowther said.

“The idea came from concerned parents with school age kids and also the many complaints from motorists that the school zones are not clearly marked and subsequently are fined for exceeding the speed limit.

“This project would remove any ambiguity or indeed any excuse for speeding through these school zones,” he said.

The ALP believes the “Dragon’s Teeth” road markings are a simple and cost-effective way to ensure every motorist know exactly when they had entered a school zone and knew to slow down.

It has promised that the Dragon’s Teeth rollout would be completed within four years at a cost of $800,000.

Mr Crowther said the road markings increased the visibility of school zones for motorists and provided a constant reminder of 40km/h speed limit around schools.

The plan would be combined with a $150 million Connecting Neighbourhoods footpaths policy to create safer pathways to schools and safer pathways around schools.

Mr Crowther said anything that improved safety for children around schools was “a great initiative”.

“This is one practical way we can slow the traffic in school zones,” Mr Crowther said.

The Dragon’s Teeth initiative is aimed to complement the State Government’s recently introduced school safety initiatives of standardised school zone times (7am-9am and 2-4pm) and flashing lights on signs.

Residents vow to fight unreasonable development plans

THE Ramsay Health Clinic at New Farm usually receives accolades for helping people get over their hurts, habits and hang-ups but it is being challenged on a number of fronts on planned extensions.

The 90-bed psychiatric private hospital, credited with having turned former Brisbane Lions Australian rules bad boy footballer Brendan Fevola’s life around, is to be extended.

The clinic, which is bounded by Oxlade Drive, Sargent Street and Mountford Road, on the point of the New Farm Peninsula, is owned by Ramsay Health Care, which is regarded as one of the largest private hospital operators in Australia.

The New Farm Clinic was purpose built in 1986 as a replacement for an older facility and recently underwent a major refurbishment and expansion program with an additional 16 beds, additional car parking, group rooms and executive suites.

The original plans to redevelop the remaining section of the hospital would see it expand to 42 beds in a building that was 19m high. Angry nearby residents said the height of the building would ruin the character of the area.

Residents, at a recent public meeting, said they were concerned their “sleepy, little area of New Farm” was to vanish as the clinic grew and became increasingly busier.

Later at a meeting convened by ALP candidate for Brisbane City Council’s Central Ward, Paul Crowther and attended by clinic chief executive officer Ken Craig, Ramsay Health Care’s state development manager Dean Clough and an architect.

Mr Craig said that, in recognition of the “excellent relationship” that had existed between the hospital and the community of the area for 25 years, clinic management had engaged with the community about development “in good faith”.

Mr Crowther said he wanted to ensure the views of all stakeholders were heard and what eventually was constructed was the culmination of those discussions.

The original development application was put to council in August last year.

Ramsay said there was a growing demand for mental health services in Brisbane and the clinic needed to expand to meet that need.

Mr Crowther said it was not his intention to have the redevelopment stopped, which the locals wanted.

“We have already saved a significant fig tree on the site that was planned to be removed and this is a major victory for the local community,” he said.

Mr Crowther said residents received concessions and commitments from the clinic at the meeting on a range of issues including noise levels, landscaping, the building height and maintaining the character of the area.

He said the original plans were that the building would be 19m high. After discussion at the meeting, it was agreed the three-level building would be reduced to less than 14m high. One level would be for car parking.

Eaves would be added to better reflect the character of the suburb and the roof would be non-glare with a darker colour in keeping with others in the neighbourhood.

While residents fear the extra patronage the clinic will create a parking shortage on the streets, little headway was made on that issue.

The small “park” on the corner is to be maintained “as is” and not the large concrete wall as the original plans indicated.

The clinic said there would not be any more day programs after the re-development. The new rooms being built were to compensate for the loss of consulting rooms in the main building, which was to be retrofitted for increased administration.

During construction, the clinic day programs and consulting rooms are to be temporarily relocated to another site.

Concerned residents have formed the New Farm Clinic Neighbourhood Group (NFCNG) to collectively and efficiently express their concerns to Council, planners and the New Farm Clinic.

Any residents wanting further information on the proposed development can contact Paul Crowther on 0411 516 635 or email him at paul@raysmith.com.au