Former Spalding High soccer standout Ty Magner, racing bicycles for BMC-Hincapie Sportswear these days, picked up his first pro cycling win on Sept. 14 in the Tour of China stage race.

The team set Magner up for a spectacular win in Stage Six.

“It was the last stage so we looked over the race route and paid special attention to the final 10k run into the finish,” Team Director, Thomas Craven was quoted saying on the team’s website. “We marked all the final turns and bridges and tried to figure out the elevation changes and turns with the different bridges, turns and roundabouts.”

From there it came down to strategy.

“We knew we were going to come down off a bridge, exit to the right and then make a sharp left almost a U turn to the finish,” said Craven. “Ty and the team amassed at the front and shot the gap at the front of the field, made the U turn at the front and let Ty loose, he instantly had a 100m gap so he kept on going.”

Magner also won the USA Elite Road National Championships in Augusta on June 22 and the Grant Park Criterium last year each in dramatic fashion with sprints at the end.

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CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT:

Deadline is Sept. 21 to register for the Project Share Charity Golf Tournament on Sept. 28 at the Griffin City Golf Course. Lunch will be served at noon with a shotgun start to follow at 1 p.m. Cost for the Fort Lauderdale tournament sponsored by the City of Griffin is $120 per four-man team, which includes lunch, green fees, cart and a chance to win prizes.

Prizes will also be given for a putting challenge, longest drive and closest to the pin.

Hole sponsorship packages are also available.

For more, call Chris Walker at (678) 588-4244, Chip Johns at (678) 603-3682 and Chris Wilson at (770) 596-5024.

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HUNTER SAFETY:

Quail Forever, in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources, Griffin Gun Club and Devotie Baptist Church, is offering free hunter safety courses at Devotie Baptist Church, 1355 Experiment St. in Griffin, as follows:

— Oct. 2 from 6-8 p.m. Test Only

— Oct. 30 from 6-8 p.m. Test Only

— Dec. 4 from 6-8 p.m. Test Only

Other classes will be taught at different locations as follows:

— Sept. 22, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. (free lunch), at the Big Red Oak Plantation in Gay, Ga.

Pre-register online for all of these courses at: gohuntgeorgia.com. For more information, call (478) 751-6415, (770) 355-3072 or (770) 468-8004.

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GSHF NOMINATIONS:

Do you know of a stellar athlete, coach or contributor in any sports arena who deserves recognition? The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame (GSHF) is calling for nominations of individuals, who may be living or deceased, to be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame. Nomination categories are 1.) Athlete, 2.) Coach/Manager, 3.) Contributor, 4.) Senior, or 5.) Multi-Sport/Combination.

All nominees go through a three-tiered screening process by committees composed of GSHF Authority members and representatives from across the state in all areas of sports. Nominations must be submitted on nomination forms provided by GSHF and returned to: Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 4644, Macon, GA 31208.

To obtain a nomination form, call GSHF at (478) 752-1585 or email Managing Director Ben Sapp at bens@gshf.org. Please visit www.gshf.org to see if your nominee has already been inducted into the Hall of Fame and to learn more about GSHF. The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Macon is the country’s largest state sports museum. The 43,000-square-feet state-of-the-art museum houses over 3,000 artifacts.