Freshers’ Time Trial

Posted on 27th October 202030th October 2020

Kicking off CUCC’s return to Cambridge after a longer than usual summer, filled with plenty of time-trialling successes for many, what better way to start the academic year than with our Freshers’ Time Trial! This year saw an unprecedented turnout of over 60 keen cyclists of all experience levels eager to test themselves around our customary 6 mile loop between the villages of Newton and Little Shelford.

Unfortunately the weather did not remain on our side during the event and left many of our riders battling the rain as well as the clock as they powered their way around the course. However, this didn't stop some truly impressive times being recorded on the day.

Joe Adlam-Cook and Daniel Slater both recorded blistering sub 14-minute times, 13:45 and 13:56 respectively on the men's side. The remainder of the 49 strong field were certainly not far behind and was strongly competitive across the whole range of results with lots of ties and mere seconds separating many with highly respectable times all round.

2020 Cuppers’ Round-up

Posted on 31st May 202030th October 2020

A few weeks before the Coronavirus lockdown, CUCC held its annual Cuppers’ Time Trial on the 29th February, in what would turn out to be the last taste of racing for many in a long while.

33 hardy souls braved the classically awful February weather, with some gale force winds making the outward leg to Newmarket great fun, but in turn making the return leg rather painful. As is standard on the slightly tricky turnaround (a roundabout with 5 exits), one rider somewhat inevitably took the wrong turning towards Six Mile Bottom, thankfully realising the mistake before getting to the A11.

Men’s winner Jack Brown suffering over the line in his “distinctive” new skinsuit…

Jesus College were the victors on the day, with a narrow margin of 2 points to second placed Emmanuel. Current Women’s Captain Elspeth (Girton) won the Women’s TT bike category in a time of 25:13, with Jess Godden (Emma) winning the road bike category with a 28:22.

Women’s winner Elspeth Grace, who also comfortably takes home the prize of the smallest CdA!

In the Men’s event, Jack Brown (Caius) successfully defended his 2019 title in a time of 20:35, with Rob Walker (Pembroke) coming a close 2nd in a 20:46 and Patrick Elwood (Magdalene) rounding out the podium with a 21:23. Craig Rogers (Fitz) continued his refusal to ride a TT bike but won the road bike category in a rapid 22:34. Fresher Henry Yates (Churchill) won the Town Bike category on his full suspension 29er, riding a 31:47.

Women’s Results

Placing	Name	Time
1	Elspeth Grace	25:13
2	Hannah Roberts	25:45
3	Jessica Godden	28:22
4	Clare Gayer	28:39
5	Fiona Bunn	29:52
6	Anne-Marie Bowring	31:29
7	Ellie Taylor	33:14

Men’s Results

Placing	Name	Time
1	Jack Brown	20:35
2	Rob Walker	20:46
3	Patrick Elwood	21:23
4	Ali Golby	21:45
5	Craig Rogers	22:34
6	Jack Kellam	22:39
7	Euan Tebbutt	23:19
8	Dave Bell	23:42
9	Oliver Mosely	23:56
10	Ollie Fox	24:29

Alumni Dinner 2020

Posted on 6th February 20206th February 2020

In early February, CUCC began what it hopes to be an annual tradition with our first ever Alumni Dinner. A handful of our current riders welcomed back former members to Jesus College for an evening of great food, stories and a small amount of wine!

We were lucky to have Alumni dating all the way back to the ’70s join us, allowing a great spread of generations to realise that while some things may change across the years, CUCC will always share love for riding in the Fens, beating Oxf*rd and being considerable choppers on our bikes.

We’re already looking forward to next year’s dinner, where we’ll hopefully have even more Alumni along. It’ll be held at a similar time of year (likely to be the last weekend of January – to be confirmed shortly) but we’ll head to a different venue.

In keeping with the serious tone of the evening…

Varsity & BUCS 25 Race Report

Posted on 22nd April 201922nd April 2019

The Cambridge 1-2-3

What a day! Once again, our annual Varsity match rolled around, this year taking place on home ground, taking two laps to complete the E33/25 course just outside Six Mile Bottom. After taking 8 successive victories, our Men’s side were confident yet eager to make it 9. Our Women’s team were the underdogs going into the day, but as ever with bike racing, who knows what could happen on the day!

John Mulvey

Easter Saturday dawned, and our intrepid bunch of 19 woke to a beautiful April morning, with very little wind but high temperatures meaning a load of fast times were expected.

As is the honour in putting on an event, fresher Craig Rogers (fitz) was first off, and with his brother along to support (or maybe just laugh) he set the fastest provisional time

Seb Dickson

(unsurprisingly) in a 55:51, which was to last for a whole 10 minutes. Shortly behind him was one of our trio of women, Olivia Jamrog (Lucy Cav), who came home with a 1:11:36, over 3 minutes quicker than her target! Next up was Flora (Eddie’s), who rode a 1:06:39, narrowly missing out on a top 10.

Toby Cowell

Next up was club pres Rob Walker (Pembroke), looking to improve on 10th place from 2 years ago on the same course. Sporting a very nice new skinsuit, Rob ultimately rode a 52:07, which by the end of the day was never surpassed. His first individual BUCS medal being Gold, this was an astounding ride and a testament to all the hard work and training he’s been putting in! Chapeau!

Euan Tebbutt

In what was supposedly his last ever TT (I highly doubt it, and really hope not too), Toby Cowell (Catz) was our next rider to come in, riding a 54:11, which was just 10s short of a top 10. Next back was fresher Lucas He (Caius), who broke the hour by 5s. Baf (Queens’), on his bespoke ‘planet BAF’ bike, gave the camp a hearty wave as he completed lap 1 and went on to ride a 1:02:46, just missing out on a top 50 on the day.

Lucas He

Another one of our many Fitz fresher’s came next, being Andrew Salkeld on his new Dolan. He recorded a 1:06:23 in his first outing on a TT bike. Jonny Bodey (and his pocket full of Jelly Babies) (Magdalene) was next, riding a 1:02:09 on the fantastically Chinese club TT bike. Hans Verschueren (Kings) rode a 1:05:09 to be our next rider home. Euan ‘not gonna be events sec’ Tebbutt (Jesus) was CUCC’s 11th rider home in a 1:01:06.

Hans Verschueren

Our 3rd lady from 3, Marilou Boddé (Queens’), rode a 1:23:31 to complete our time for the Women’s Varsity, eventually a 3:41:46. Next was our finest Welshman Jack Kellam (Eddie’s), who came home in a 57:20, enough for 31st on the day. James Quigley (another Fitz Fresher rode a 1:07:43.

Johnny Bodey

Next came Men’s Race Captain Jack in his new ActiveEdge skinsuit (very Quicksteppy), but was disappointed with his ride, despite doing enough for 8th in a 53:46. Jali Packer (Kings) was unfortunate to not slip under the hour, with a 1:00:39, but still enough for a top 50. Dan O’Riordan (Robinson) rode a 1:07:07, a cracking time with very little aero kit!

Jack Kellam

Our final two riders were the evergreen pairing of John Mulvey (Eddie’s) and Seb Dickson (Corpus), both of which have previously won the individual Varsity (John for the previous two years). Despite moaning about his poor ride (some things will never change), Seb rode a 52:14, taking 3rd place on the day, whilst John did a 52:11 to take 2nd, only losing out to teammate Rob.

Andrew Salkeld

Any one Uni taking a 1-2-3 in a BUCS event hasn’t happened in recent memory, nor back through the 20 years-worth of records we have, and this really underlines CUCC’s quality. Of course, this brought the Men’s Team Gold and Varsity Victory (by almost quarter of an hour!), and also earnt Rob, John and Seb their half-blues.

Jali Packer

Enough for 3rd overall team was the trio of Jack, Toby and Craig, but as ever this doesn’t count in the eyes of BUCS, but this would’ve also easily won the Varsity A team if not for Rob, John and Seb, thereby taking home the Men’s B Team Varsity Trophy.

Unfortunately, with a depleted Women’s Squad due to illness, injury and hen do’s, Oxford won the Women’s Varsity for yet another year, but Flora and Olivia earnt Half Blues as both rides came under 1:15:00, their combined time also enough for 7th in BUCS. Rest assured we’ll be back again next year!

Ben Ferris

So that’s it for the BUCS TTs once again, with the only remaining event being the Road Race, which sees a strong squad of Ffion, Elspeth, John, Craig and Jack head up to York.

Dan O’Riordan

Women’s Results

11	Flora Harpley Green	Cambridge	1:06:39	14
23	Olivia Jamrog	Cambridge	1:11:36	4
27	Marilou Bodde	Cambridge	1:23:31	74

Men’s Results

1	Rob Walker	Cambridge	0:52:07	20
2	John Mulvey	Cambridge	0:52:11	120
3	Sebastian Dickson	Cambridge	0:52:14	105
8	Jack Brown	Cambridge	0:53:46	100
11	Toby Cowell	Cambridge	0:54:11	30
22	Craig Rogers	Cambridge	0:55:51	1
31	Jack Kellam	Cambridge	0:57:20	80
43	Lucas He	Cambridge	0:59:55	35
45	Jali Packer	Cambridge	1:00:39	112
47	Euan Tebbutt	Cambridge	1:01:06	73
49	Jonny Bodey	Cambridge	1:02:09	62
51	Ben Ferris	Cambridge	1:02:46	38
52	Hans Verschueren	Cambridge	1:05:09	68
54	Andrew Salkeld	Cambridge	1:06:23	58
56	Dan O'Riordan	Cambridge	1:07:07	122
58	James Quigley	Cambridge	1:07:43	98

BUCS 25 and Varsity Rider Profiles 2019

Posted on 18th April 201918th April 2019

Now for the final BUCS TT of the year, but more importantly our Varsity match! Our Men’s side are hoping to defend their title, and make it a 9^th successive victory, whilst our Women are hoping to break Oxf*rd and win their first in 5 years!

Big thanks as ever to Sean Irving for taking the photos for us, go check out his website at http://www.seanirvingphotography.co.uk/

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Cuppers 2019

Posted on 3rd March 20194th March 2019

Men’s Winner Jack Brown (Photo thanks to Davey Jones)

On Saturday, CUCC was out in force for our annual intercollegiate Cuppers TT – over 50 riders from 21 colleges vying for glory on the 10 mile Bottisham course.

The brisk wind on the day meant we all set off for the first 5 miles feeling like Bradley Wiggins before being brought back down to Earth by a soul-crushing return 5 miles into the wind.

Despite this everyone seemed in high spirits back at the race HQ, but that may have been more down to the excellent food on offer from head chef Alex Petter (we hope no-one left with food poisoning).

Women’s Winner Ffion James

After crunching the numbers the rankings are as follows:

Men’s podium: Jack Brown from Gonville and Caius (20:23), Rob Walker from Pembroke (20:37) and Toby Cowell from St Catherine’s (21:22).
Women’s podium: Ffion James from Girton (27:19), Elspeth Grace from Girton (27:57) and Melody Swiers from Fitzwilliam (28:13).

Special mention goes to the winner of the MTB/Town bike category – Robbie Blythe from Sidney Sussex putting in a time of 27:48.

The victorious Girton team

College competition:
1^st – 23 points – Girton College (thanks to their flying ladies placing 1^st and 2^nd)

2^nd – 20 points – Gonville and Caius College

3^rd – 17 points – Fitzwilliam College

All the brave/foolish competitors

The team from Girton went home with the brand new CUCC Cuppers trophy – kindly donated by Jenny and Mark Grenfell-Shaw in memory of John, their son, who was a keen time-triallist and well-loved member of the club. The trophy will be engraved and handed on each year to the triumphant college. We’ll have to see if Girton can hold on to it next year!

Photos from the event, Courtesy of Davey Jones (the good ones at least) here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=15LMdVWNavlbjhnnmYn6pHSczsCR9_DGY

Robbie Blythe storming to victory in the town bike category (Photo thanks to Davey Jones)

College scores			Men			Women
Girton	23	1	Jack Brown	20:23	1	Ffion James	27:19
Gonville and Caius	20	2	Rob Walker	20:37	2	Elspeth Grace	27:57
Fitzwilliam	17	3	Toby Cowell	21:22	3	Melody Swiers	28:13
Jesus	14	4	Seb Dickson	21:38	4	Olivia Jamrog	29:03
St Catherine's	13	5	Lucas He	21:55	5	Anne-Marie Bowring	30:22
Pembroke	12	6	Toby Antippas	22:01	6	Marilou Boddé	31:15
St Edmond's	10	7	Craig Rogers	22:15	7	Celia Kessler	31:41
Corpus Christi	9	8	Jack Kellam	22:36	8	Hannah Walker	32:20
Lucy Cavendish	8	9	James Lello	23:24
Queens	7	10	Jonny Bodey	23:32
Hughs Hall	6	11	George Spooner	23:53
Trinity	4	12	Dan O'Riordan	24:00
Sidney sussex	3	13	Fabio Albertani	24:05
Homerton	2	14	Jali Packer	24:21
King's	2	15	Tom Adams	24:31
Magdalene	2	16	Matt Bond	24:33
Robinson	2	17	Nick Grogan	24:42
Churchill	1	18	Kelvin Gomez	24:44
Clare	1	19	Will Weatherill	24:45
Darwin	1	20	Max Vesty	25:00
Selwyn	1	21	Andrew Salkeld	25:11
		22	Euan Tebbutt	25:25
		23	Ben Ferris	25:33
		24	Hans Verschueren	25:34
		25	Alex Pantelides	25:48
		26	Jordan Thornton	26:00
		27	James Quigley	26:03
		28	Alex Petter	26:05
		29	Eliott Lindsay	26:32
		30	Alex Irvine	26:35
		31	James Burdett	26:43
		32	Matt Davison	27:39
		33	Neil Ibata	27:46
		34	Robbie Blythe	27:48
		35	Timothy Wesh	27:50
		36	Daniel Hayes	28:00
		37	Silas Bonestroo	28:05
		38	Daniel Eatough	28:29
		39	Sean Irving	28:49
		40	Joe Bishop	28:57
		41	Johannes Theron	29:02
		42	Lawrence Hollom	29:15
		43	?	33:05

			Overall
		1	Jack Brown	20:23	31	James Burdett	26:43
		2	Rob Walker	20:37	32	Ffion James	27:19
		3	Toby Cowell	21:22	33	Matt Davison	27:39
		4	Seb Dickson	21:38	34	Neil Ibata	27:46
		5	Lucas He	21:55	35	Robbie Blythe	27:48
		6	Toby Antippas	22:01	36	Timothy Wesh	27:50
		7	Craig Rogers	22:15	37	Elspeth Grace	27:57
		8	Jack Kellam	22:36	38	Daniel Hayes	28:00
		9	James Lello	23:24	39	Silas Bonestroo	28:05
		10	Jonny Bodey	23:32	40	Melody Swiers	28:13
		11	George Spooner	23:53	41	Daniel Eatough	28:29
		12	Dan O'Riordan	24:00	42	Sean Irving	28:49
		13	Fabio Albertani	24:05	43	Joe Bishop	28:57
		14	Jali Packer	24:21	44	Johannes Theron	29:02
		15	Tom Adams	24:31	45	Olivia Jamrog	29:03
		16	Matt Bond	24:33	46	Lawrence Hollom	29:15
		17	Nick Grogan	24:42	47	Anne-Marie Bowring	30:22
		18	Kelvin Gomez	24:44	48	Marilou Boddé	31:15
		19	Will Weatherill	24:45	49	Celia Kessler	31:41
		20	Max Vesty	25:00	50	Hannah Walker	32:20
		21	Andrew Salkeld	25:11	51	?	33:05
		22	Euan Tebbutt	25:25
		23	Ben Ferris	25:33
		24	Hans Verschueren	25:34
		25	Alex Pantelides	25:48
		26	Jordan Thornton	26:00
		27	James Quigley	26:03
		28	Alex Petter	26:05
		29	Eliott Lindsay	26:32
		30	Alex Irvine	26:35

MTB Varsity

Posted on 26th February 201926th February 2019

The all Cambridge podium

Last Sunday saw the Cambridge Mountain Bike team put on one of the most dominant Varsity displays in recent years. Down at the Olympic course at Hadleigh Park the Cambridge team took a landslide victory claiming all top 5 spots and winning the Varsity for the third year in a row. The combination of amazing weather and standout performances led to a perfect day out.

The race was effectively won before the end of the first lap when our riders led the race out, swiftly dropping the entire Oxford team and ending up competing against each other for the podium spots. Fitz fresher Craig Rogers led the line and never looked back, he stormed to a fantastic debut win. I am sure he will continue to be dominant over the next few years. Very strong rides from second year Will Weatherill and third year PhD student Fin Allen saw Cambridge complete the podium by taking second and third place respectively. Thanks to Max Vesty and Robbie Blythe, Cambridge also claimed fourth and fifth, with the first Oxford rider coming in in sixth place.

Special congratulations must also go to Izaak Cobb and Alex Pantelides who, competing in their first MTB Varsity, added to a very strong team performance.

Other big shout outs must go to CUCC president Rob Walker for getting the team down there, Euan Tebbutt for not letting us down when given the van’s aux cord and to Elliot Scott and CUCC alumnus Seb Baucutt for providing great support* on the day.

All in all it was a fantastic day out for CUCC and the best race I’m proud to say I’ve been a part of with the MTB team. A MASSIVE congratulations to everyone involved. A big thanks to Oxford for organising this year’s event and we’ll see them next year to make it four from four.

Robbie Blythe

CUCC MTB Captain

*Making sure everyone sent it down the A-line

CUCC Hill Climb Championship 2018

Posted on 5th November 20185th November 2018

Following the successful revival of the CUCC Hill Climb Championships in 2017, on 4th November 2018 we once again headed to the much-feared Gog Magog for the 2018 Championships – 900m at 4.2% & reaching the heady heights of 67, one of the few ‘climbs’ we’re blessed with in Cambridgeshire. Additionally, this year saw the event move up to be a CTT Open event and occupy the prestigious spot as the last hill climb of the season!

CUCC member Felix Barker storming up the hill to take victory

Fortunately, unlike last year, we were blessed with a fine November afternoon for a bike race, and 38 riders readied themselves to scale the climb (some even considering it warm enough for a dip in the deep puddles near sign-on!).

Mathilde Pauls (Sigmasport) stormed to victory in the women’s event in 2-05, with Elspeth Grace (Cambridge University CC) not far behind with 2-15 and Marilou Boddé (Cambridge Triathlon Club) rounding out the women’s podium with a 2-32. Sadly CUCC women’s captain and last years winner, Ffion James, was unable to attend and defend her title, with the European Cyclocross Championships taking precedence (who’d have thought it!).

CUCC member Tom Simpson giving it everything

In the men’s event, Felix Barker (Cambridge University CC) clinched victory by the narrowest of margins over teammate Seb Dickson (Cambridge University CC), with them posting 1-36 and 1-37 respectively (No doubt a rematch will be had on CUCC’s training camp in January!). Promising fresher Isaac Brown (VC Londres) then claimed third a further 5 seconds back on Dickson and only one second ahead of 4th place!
Unfortunately, CUCC Treasurer Ben Ferris was unable to reproduce the blistering form that saw him claim the win in CUCC’s town bike hill-climb up Castle Hill last Monday, just sneaking inside the top 15 with 1-57.

A big congratulations to all riders who closed out the season’s racing today, especially to those who made their racing debuts! Our thanks go to Matthew Bond and Max Vesty for their impeccable organisation of this year’s event.

More photos are available here, and full results on the CTT website.

BUCS Road Race Rider Profiles

Posted on 26th April 201826th April 2018

Last but not least in the BUCS lineup of races this spring is the Road Race on Sunday 29th of April. A highly competitive and attritional event, the race this year will be hosted by the University of York CC on the same hilly circuit as 2017, based in the village of Sheriff Hutton. Unfortunately we have been unable to field a women’s team for 2018, but we have a strong group of four men travelling up to York on Sunday.

Many thanks to Sean Irving (seanirvingphotography.co.uk) for photographs.

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BUCS 25 and Varsity Rider Profiles

Posted on 17th April 201817th April 2018

CUCC have competed in two BUCS events already this Easter, but the 25 mile TT holds extra importance as it is also our Varsity competition with Oxford. The aggregate fastest three times from each university decide the winner, and as Cambridge has won 45 out of the 60 total men’s events including every race since 2011 we’re feeling confident! Our women’s and men’s teams are made up of previous BUCS medallists, rising stars and promising freshers – scroll down to meet the teams.

Many thanks to Sean Irving (seanirvingphotography.co.uk) for photographs.

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