In the Orwell Velo ten mile event Ross Fawcett of Pedal Power Ipswich broke Lloyd Chapman’s already very competitive course record for the Crowfield circuit, writes Fergus Muir.
The Felixstowe port worker set new figures of 21:04 for this multi-cornered course which features a switchback section between Framsden and Pettaugh.
Fawcett’s nearest challengers were Andy Proffitt (Ipswich BC, 21:47), and two former winners of this Renny Stirling Memorial event - Stuart Fairweather (VeloVelocity, 22:16), Leon West (CC Sudbury, 22:45) and Graham Garner (Essex Roads) who was fifth in 23:16.
Seen two miles after the start, Fawcett and Proffitt were dead level. Fast starters included Ian Robertson (Tri-Anglia), 18 seconds down on the leading pair and the promoting club’s David Warwick, 22 seconds down.
Gaining time later on were David Crisp (3T Racing) eventually sixth in 23:28 and Adrian Pettitt, eighth in 23:37 and leader of the winning Stowmarket & District team with Julian Bosley (23:48) and Kevin Norman 25:20.
Mathilde Pauls (Sigma Sport), second in the Diss Road Race last week, was fastest woman in 24:30.
Stowmarket and District CC’s Gavin Carter produced a powerful sprint to win the Colchester Rovers’ 48 mile road race at the end of a long upwind climb away from the reservoir to the finish at Layer-de-la-Haye.
The reverse of this, the downwind descent from Birch, was tough for Juniors on restricted gears reported Fred Gill, top finisher from Essex development team OnForm.
The race, for third and fourth cat riders, was split by a crash – on the wide, straight reservoir road. Behind Carter, Harry Wood (Maldon & District) took second ahead of Dan Young who steps up to second category with the points from his third place.
There were even bigger hauls of British Cycling points on offer at the Roxwell Rouleurs race for higher category riders on the Birds Green circuit west of Chelmsford.
An early break of ten riders built up a big lead – and from this John Mulvey (Cambridge University CC) rode to a solo win. The rest were caught with five miles remaining and in the ensuing sprint Craig Nicholls( API-Metrow) took second ahead of Morris Bacon (DAP CC), Dom Schils (Java Partizan) and Liam Manser (Pedal Power Ipswich).
At the summer evening cyclo-cross in the grounds of the Maglia Rosso cafe/bike shop at Hawstead the winners were Harley Gregory (Under 12s), Charlie Johnson (U16s), Laura Brown (Women) and Paul Bird (Men). The next event is on Tuesday 26th June, but the course is available for training any time the shop is open.
Entries for the first week of the Suffolk Cycle Race Series close this Sunday (10th June). The series of six evening events on varied courses laid out on the grid of roads on the Suffolk Showground. There are races for women, men and Youth categories A, B and C. Entries are made via the British Cycling website.
There are two days on National Cross-Country Series MTB racing at Phoenix Bikes, near Kentford this weekend.
There is racing on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday, with the Elite races on Sunday afternoon - the women’s competition at 1pm and the men’s race at 3.15pm.
Elite races last approximately 90 minutes, with riders taking a mass start before negotiating a series of 15-minute laps. Courses are designed to be spectator friendly and events are free to watch.
Entrants include Sophie Wright from Norwich, who last Sunday was second in the women’s national road series Cicle* Classic, one place ahead of Basildon rider Nikki Juniper.
For those who would like to try club-based cycle-sport, a good first step is checking out club websites. For lists of local clubs see www.britishcycling.org.uk/clubs or, alternatively, www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/find-clubs-East District.
Many of these CTT clubs run ten mile evening time trials at this time of year and kind of event is a starting point for many. In particular Ipswich area clubs cooperate to run a series. See ipswichdistrictcycleassociation.com.
RESULTS
ABBERTON ROAD RACE, 48 mls:
1 Gavin Carter (Stowmarket & District), 2 Harry Wood (Maldon & District), 3 Daniel Young (Pro Cycle Hire UK), 4 David Harding (Chelmer CC), 5 Matthew Carter (Velo Schils), 6 Adam Gould (Colchester Rovers), 7 James Street (CC London), 8 Charlie Jones (DAP CC), 9 Chris Parker (Ipswich BC), 10 Liam Fenner (API-Metrow).
ROXWELL ROULEUR ROAD RACE, Birds Green:
1 John Mulvey (Cambridge University CC), 2 Craig Nicholls( API-Metrow), 3 Morris Bacon (DAP CC), 4 Dom Schils (Java Partizan), 5 Liam Manser Pedal Power Ipswich), 6 Harley Matthews (DAP CC), 7 Oliver Richardson (Twickenham CC),8 Rhys Howells (Rapha CC), 9 Kieran Jarvis (CT OnForm), 10 Jim Bradford (Cambridge CC)
ORWELL VELO RENNY STIRLING MEMORIAL 10, Debenham:
1 Ross Fawcett (Pedal Power Ipswich) 21:04, 2 Andy Proffitt (Ipswich BC) 21:47, 3 Stuart Fairweather (VeloVelocity) 22:16, 4 Leon West (CC Sudbury) 22:45, 5 Graham Garner (Essex Roads) 23:16, 6 David Crisp (3T Racing) 23:28, 7 Iain Robertson(Tri-Anglia) 23:30, 8 Adrian Pettit (Stowmarket & District) 23:37, 9 Julian Bosley (Stowmarket & Distric) 23:48, 10 Antony Birt (Team Bottrill) 24:10, 11 David Warwick (Orwell Velo) 24:19, 12 Mathilde Pauls (Sigma Sports, 1st Lady) 24:30.
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