Club president Michael Cross said the event will definitely be held next year, although the date has yet to be determined.

“It will be around this time of year,’’ he said.

“But we’ll have talks with Cycling NSW to see if we can get a date on the calendar that works a bit better.

“The problem is the calendar is full.’’

The event last weekend attracted 48 cyclists. This was down slightly on last year’s figure, which was the second conducted by the club.

A clash with the Oceania Track Championships in Adelaide was unavoidable and this draws the top under 19 and elite riders in the nation while Mr Cross said the HSC also impacts on numbers.

Mr Cross said the quality of racing across all grades was high and the A-grade field, while not big, was strong.

“We had three NRS (National Road Series) teams represented in A-grade and there was some really tactical racing,’’ he said.

Central Coast cyclist Phil Hey made the trip and was the overall winner in A-grade. Hunter Academy of Sport cyclists were also represented.

Mr Cross said there was a strong response from the Manning club and club juniors were prominent in the lower grades, particularly D-grade.

“The feedback we’re getting is that the weekend is a great concept, although we will look at making the races a bit longer,’’ he added.

Time trial and criterium racing was conducted at Kolodong and the criterium track at Taree Recreation Centre.

“We'll keep battling on with this,’’ Mr Cross assured.

“It’s a great fund raiser for the club and we think the event has potential. We just need to get a more workable date.’’

Mr Cross explained in last Friday’s Times that a North Coast series involving races at Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree and Newcastle could be introduced next year.

This would help attract more cyclists to the criterium weekend.

However, this is still very much in the planning stage.