Race report by Maddie Angwin
Baring a pan, a spoon and some bikes CUCC headed for Leicestershire for the first BUCS event of the season – the hill climb. Hoping to follow on from last year’s success, the team dinner the night before had been planned to perfection – an essential weight-saving diet of burgers and brownies. Conversation over dinner of course fell into the realms of Mario Kart courses and hill climb tactics. Race strategies sorted and the team was ready to go.
The hill was 1.1 km long averaging 6.4% with a total of 79m elevation, practically a mountain compared with what Cambridge has to offer. The first rider off for CUCC was Matt Davison, followed by Ben Proctor, Jacob Lewis, and Tim Bodey. Whilst the performances by our riders were strong, nothing was more impressive than former President George Spooner’s commitment to running up alongside every rider and cheering them on.
Fresh off his podium at Varsity Hill Climb and win at the annual CUCC hill climb, eyes were on Joe Adlam-Cook to see what (watt) he could produce. A strong, well-paced effort saw Joe place 8th with a time of 00:02:33.33. However, what may be more impressive than the result itself is the fact that Joe, for once, did not end up sitting in a bush half-dead afterward – miracles do happen. Joe’s performance, paired with rapid races from Theo Weinberger (00:02:42.80) and Tom Hale (00:02:43.68) saw CUCC claim third place overall. A huge achievement once again for the club.
It was great to see so many excellent performances from CUCC with every rider finishing within the top half of the results table. The men’s results were as follows: Joe Adlam-Cook (00:02:33.33), Theo Weinberger (00:02:42.80), Tom Hale (00:02:43.68), Rob Peacock (00:02:44.05), Sam Lewin (00:02:45.02), Tim Bodey (00:02:46.32), Ben Proctor (00:02:46.75), Jacob Lewis (00:02:47.02), Matt Bryan (00:02:48.18), Matt Rizzo-Naudi (00:02:48.37), Joris Witstock (00:02:48.79), Jake Stuchbury-Wass (00:02:55.89), Matt Davison (00:02:56.36), Alban Wales (00:02:59.09), Tom Wade (00:03:00.45), Luke Andrews (00:03:01.72), Harry Weedon (00:03:04.95).
After the conclusion of the men’s race, the women’s racing began and saw an exceptional performance from CUCC. First off on the women’s side was President Zoe Burrell putting in a strong performance of 00:03:22.35. Up next was Sannah Zaman who, despite a slight altercation with a car, stormed up the hill with a time of 00:03:13.37, putting her into 3rd place. Coming off the back of her CUCC hill climb win, Phoebe Barker put down an incredible time of 00:03:09.75, securing 2nd place overall. The final two riders for CUCC were Miranda Clements (00:03:18.17) and Maddie Angwin (00:03:40.27). The incredible rides by Phoebe and Sannah meant that CUCC won the women’s team event as well as having two riders on the podium and all within the top half of the results table.
It was an excellent day all round for CUCC. We look forward to racing again next year (and proving that it seems you don’t need hills to win hill climbs). The full list of results can be found here and the photos can be found here.