Last weekend saw a lot of action once again throughout the country with some of the team heading to the NDCXL on Saturday and the SWCX, Western League, Yorkshire Points, North West League and then some hillclimbing and also even adventure racing for good measure!
First up, Tracey, Phoebe, Tiff and James headed to Toot Hill School for the NDCXL. Some midweek rain meant for the arrival of some muddier conditions and some decent off camber sections meant that our riders where in their element and it showed with Tracey and Tomo winning their categories and then Phoebe and coming home 3rd and 4th respectively in the Senior Women’s race, a cracking day out for the team.
Sunday saw Blighty hit up the South West League at Bishop Fox’s School and after the practice session, our man knew he was going to like this race…a decent circuit, that suited him and he was feeling ready and on very good form! Here is how it went in his own words,
Meanwhile in Derbyshire, Becky was hitting up the hillclimb scene yet again and this time in the form of the 3 stage Beeley Hillclimb. Up against some tough competition, once again Becky showed her strength! 3rd on Riber Hill (4:43), 4th on Beeley Hill (11:33) and then 3rd on Lady Bank Road (2:42) to take 3rd overall once again showing that she may well be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years on the the hills!
Sunday also saw our riders heading to the Yorkshire Points Series and the North West Cyclocross League with Tomo and Di both winning their races along the way. Tomo made it two from two over the weekend with super strong performances in both races against some tough competition. Di got back to winning ways again at the North West League and with Phoebe there as team support she took the race by the horns and came away with a very strong win, just showing off her multi discipline talents once again!
Meanwhile, in Stroud, the Western League boys mixed it up on the infamous Stroud course, known for its very undulating course and one that really pushes the riders to the limit. Henry, Sam and Scotty (Sally pulling out due to illness) took to the start line and right from the gun they were at the pointy end, with Sam and Scotty 1st and 3rd. As the race went on Sam fought for the lead with some of the other League regulars and Scotty just off the pace behind but due to bring home a solid result. With a lap to go and after a few mid race dramas for Smithy, he was now clearly in the lead and went on to take the win. But behind there was a little late race drama too…as Scotty rode past the pits for the last time, he hit the main climb and out of nowhere, the rear mech hanger snapped, sending the mech into the wheel and then a long old run to the finish line! Loosing a good few places, but managing to run to 8th overall, not too shabby considering! Behind these two, Henry was racing to a solid 2nd in the Junior race, keeping his 100% podium run in the Junior series.
Nat was also racing, this time an adventure race! 4 hours of running and riding, collecting as many ‘controls’ as possible, navigating using only an OS map! The choice can be made when to swap from riding to running or vice versa. Nat put in a solid 1hr 20mins running, then covered the rest of the race by bike. An amazing race by Nat meant she won the race outright, with a winning margin of 10 minutes over the rest of the field…excellent stuff!
Another stonking weekend of racing by Team Orange…mint!
