A history women’s competitive cycling at CUCC
by Helen Hatcher
When I joined CUCC in the 1990s there were very few women and even less of us were interested in competing. I had come from Scotland where I had even ridden with Sir Chris Hoy in a club and was keen to raise the profile of women in cycling in Cambridge. I set about starting to ride with others and to find out if we could get a group of women trained to do time trial and team trial events. Often, we rode around roads that will be familiar with those in the club near six mile bottom and over to Shelford and Newton. Sometimes, we rode with the men, especially learning the chain gang techniques. Our bikes were old steel with the odd luxury aluminium and only the fastest men had access to the glory carbon. The club, as ever, was very social and the men supported us to compete in Varsity matches and for some of us in BUSA (now known as BUCS) and national events. The men let us join them for team time trial training by Orwell and we joined in the yearly hill climb and roll down challenges at Barrington hill. Some of us also branched out into mountain biking and triathlon, collecting more members along the way. By 1996 we had an established Varsity team who had trained and competed in some team time trial events as well. A few of us competed in the National 10, 25 and 50 milers as well as some team trial events and obviously the individual time trials around the region.
Our 4-Up time, from the 1997 BUSA national 50 km championship, still stands as the women’s record. This is something of a miracle as I had been up all night the night before delivering a baby on my maternity attachment and fell asleep briefly but was woken as my wheel hit the verge and the adrenaline probably powered all of us for the rest of the event! The team are pictured in the photo of the four of us. We had an international team with members from New Zealand, Chris Couldrey, who still rides joined in 1996, and Nicolle Laviolette from Canada joined in 1998. I represented CUCC as the Captain of the Team from 1996 and had the sport accepted as a Blues event given years of Varsity and high performances nationally. Two of us (Helen Clark and Nicolle Laviolette) came 3rd nationally in the 2Up in 1998 beating the Oxford crew. Helen also came in the top 5 in the National series of 10/25/50 time trials in 1997 and 1998. Many of us continued in cycling and represented other clubs or the country. I was lucky to compete in the world Ironman Championships in Hawaii in 2008 for the hottest time trial (over 40 degrees Celsius) I have ever completed where I met the amazing athlete and fellow CUCC rider from years later, Lucy Gossage, a triathlon and ultra legend. I am still cycling in all forms from road to MTB and triathlon and the love of riding a bike with friends never leaves you. It’s a great sport and it’s good to see how many more people are involved both men and women. I hope the club continues to grow, enjoy all forms of riding and compete for those who enjoy it.
Women’s Racing 2024-25 Roundup
by Freya Taylor
Following on from promising performances in the hill climbs and track early in the year, the CUCC women hit their stride with the time trials and road races later in the year.
First up was the team time trial, held near Bath at Castle Combe circuit. For the first time, CUCC fielded 3 womens’ teams, more than any other university. Our womens’ 1st team of Sannah, Tegan and Freya T stormed to a bronze medal against fierce competition. The womens’ second and third teams both performed admirably, beating multiple universities’ first teams to set impressive times.
The annual 25 mile time trial, held on home roads was also a success for Cambridge women. Flo Studdert-Kennedy, after a switch from her usual mountain bike set up, took a brilliant bronze in the road bike category in 1:13. In the TT category, Freya T (8th), Freya S (13th), Nina (14th), Susanne (16th), and Tegan (19th) rounded out a solid set of results on the day. The 10 mile time trial followed, again bringing more medals for CUCC women. Lottie Gill, in 25:33, was awarded a gold medal in the road bike category, while Lucy and Freya T together took bronze in the women’s TT team category.
The final BUCS events of the year were the crit and the road race. Our only competitor in the crit was Lucy, who faced a long and flat race down in Devon, walking away with a very respectable 5th place. Her form continued into the road race the next day, where she and Freya T faced an attritional circuit and, despite some drama, took 6th and 12th respectively.
Men’s TT and RR 2024-25 Roundup
by Tom Hale
It was a crisp Sunday morning in March; there was a strong breeze and sapphire sky over Castle Combe race circuit. The rapturous beauty of the landscape was abruptly shattered, however, by the arrival of two CUCC extra-long wheelbase vans, two cars, and Will Dad’s Land Rover. After long deliberations on tactics followed by a brisk recce of the circuit, the men’s first team (Will Lowden, Tom Hale, and Mantas Baksys) were off. With Loughborough’s coach and his iPad cheering them on (or maybe he was timing them… we’ll never know), the boys set a blisteringly fast first three laps. However, like RAAC concrete, the cracks soon began to appear. The carefully drafted (pardon the pun) plan of action was soon out the window, or more accurately, blown away by the crosswinds. Could they hang on to a podium finish? The answer, ultimately no: only a minute separated the top four teams with the CUCCs at the frustrating end of this, only 5 seconds off third. However, the second (Sam Kimber, Cobi Allen, and Arthur Morris) and third (Jamie Maxen, Evan Burgess, and Sam Fitzgerald) teams both put in big shifts to secure three CUCC spots in the top 10, which even Jamie’s rubbing rear wheel could not prevent.
The Rumble in the Jungle, the Lionesses Euros Final, Greg LeMond. Everyone loves a good comeback story. Would Sunday 6th April be the day that the four spectators on the side of the A1304 witness another inductee into this catalogue of epic resurgences? Could the CUCCs bounce back from their agonising fourth place at BUCS TTT and take on the giants of Loughborough, Nottingham, and Oxford in the BUCS 25 mile TT? Everything looked golden when CUCC’s Will Lowden caught his minute man and avid BUCS medal collector Matt Coulson on the first lap. Indeed, Will’s seriously impressive 49:57 was enough to win individual gold by well over a minute! Tom Hale and Mantas Baksys made up the rest of the CUCC first team, separated by only 1 second on the day. This was enough for CUCC to bag team silver, beaten only by Oxford who therefore took home the men’s Varsity trophy. The CUCCs, however, were not finished yet… Having heard rumours that BUCS now do a road bike category, George Spooner had been allured back to Cambridge for a PhD. The many late evenings in the lab were not for nothing – George out-aero’d the rest of the field to deservedly win gold, with Ben Proctor putting in a shift for bronze.
History has a funny way of repeating itself; this time, we only had to wait three weeks. BUCS 10 mile TT panned out in much the same way as BUCS 25 (minus the car crash). Like a lion and its prey, nothing could get between Will and his individual gold medal, not even the horse on the course. After a last-minute realisation that having a GatorSkin counteracts the aero benefit of the club disc wheel, Tom Hale and Evan Burgess completed the rest of the team who took home the team silver. El Presidente, with his CDA of a 50p coin, capped off the day by powering to silver in the road bike category.
Sad that the BUCS TT season was now over and he’d now be forced to ride a road bike, Will began preparations for the BUCS Road Race weekend by modifying his Boardman TT bike until it would just about pass as a road bike. The AirBnB was booked, chains and legs waxed, and Di2 uncharged. A five-hour drive later, the team were in Devon staring longingly at the inviting waters of the hotel swimming pool, their stomachs full of Will’s mum’s delicious homemade bolognaise. Before they could even dip their toes in, however, there was business to do. First on the agenda, the crit. With three riders up the road in an early break at RNAS Merryfield, there were several attacks out of the bunch, but nothing would stick until Jamie snuck away in the last lap to bag fourth. Just behind, George secured the bunch sprint W for sixth.
A long sleep and obscene amount of food later, the boys were back on the start line for the road race. The first few kilometres were nervy and saw several casualties, including Will and Tom’s aero water bottles, Will’s bike computer, and a rider from Bath, to whom we wish all the best. Will soon found himself in the 8-man breakaway but just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared: a dropped chain (and no, he wasn’t riding SRAM, there were just that many potholes). Back in the bunch Will found his four fellow CUCCs, but not for long … an unlucky puncture and dropped chain at the start of the second and final lap reduced Cobi and Jamie to the grupetto. With CUCC’s hopes now resting on the shoulders of Will, George, and Tom, could they pull off a miracle? For a few minutes, they were allowed to hope; Tom had made it into a chasing group of three with 15 km to go. Cramp – 6 km out. It was now George’s turn to give it a whack … and whack it he did. Riding away from the bunch on the final uphill, George secured the final top 10 spot remaining after the break and two-man chase, with Will just behind in 15th.
Altogether then, 2024-25 was a season CUCC can be proud of, not just because of the medals won (let’s forget about BUCS track): the depth of participation, type 2 fun, and banter on the roadside mean it most certainly does not suck to CUCC.