Michaelmas Racing Round-Up

With a New Year – and a new racing season – arriving here in Cambridge, we’ve put together a belated look back at some of the stellar racing performances that club members put in during the last few months of 2019.

At the start of term, CUCC had riders competing in the tail end of the road racing season, while others swapped disciplines to test themselves against the clock in hill climb events and put on the knobbly tyres for the beginning of the cyclo-cross calendar.

Road Racing and Hill Climbs

On an eventful Sunday in mid-October, the first result of the day saw Rob Walker take a fine solo victory in a damp end-of-season Finsbury Park RR, ably supported by Jonny Bodey who claimed a respectful pack finish.

Meanwhile, just south of London, Jack Kellam and Craig Rogers were tackling the iconic Bec and Catford CC Hill Climbs – events in which the club has pedigree! After a successful road race season, and promising early hill climb results, all eyes were focused on Craig who was competing in a tough field.

Despite a sketchy descent down the hill to the start on his lightweight Chinese carbon rims, Craig surged up the steep slopes of York’s Hill to claim 3rdplace – going one better than the eminent Seb Dickson in the 2018 event. While buoyed by the fact the pre-race favourite Calum Brown also weighed a ‘hefty’ 75kg, a discrepancy of a few hundred watts in power output meant Jack could only finish 44th.

Over at White Lane, for Bec CC’s event in the afternoon, Craig produced an incredible performance that kept him in the hot seat until the last few competitors. It took the massive calves of the aforementioned Calum Brown to pip Craig by 1.3 seconds to the prize. Regardless, this was an amazing set of results from our mercurial hill-climber.

A few weeks later, BUCS Hill Climb saw CUCC take a strong squad, buoyed by Craig’s stunning string of results, to Mam Tor in the Peak District. On a bleak day of driving rain and freezing temperatures, a total of 16 riders from Cambridge ground their way up the mountain pass.

In the women’s event the featherweight Elspeth Grace was our highest finisher, placing 17thin a strong field. The trio, completed by of Lucy Harris and Melody Swiers, did well to finish 6thin the women’s team event – especially given their relative inexperience in the event.

Meanwhile, in the men’s event 13 reluctant Cambridge competitors tentatively left the warmth of the van to try and get some crucial BUCS points. In the end, Craig managed a good 7thplace, disappointed to see a rider from Oxf*rd take the overall honours. With George Spooner coming in 17th, and Rob 27th, we did enough for CUCC to take an honourable 3rdin the team prize.

 

BUCS Track

Another year, and after the BUCS Hill Climb, another plucky band of CUCC riders headed to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester to compete on the boards. As the eternal problem of Cambridge not having a velodrome continues for yet another year (perhaps this year might be the one however…) the squad of Jack Brown, George Spooner, Rob Walker and Craig Rogers entered with low expectations, the only goal to have a ‘good jolly’ whilst they were at it.

In the first event of the weekend, the 200m Flying Time Trial, George Spooner posted a quite rapid 12.079, especially considering he’d never done a proper flying lap before…

Next up came the IP qualification, where Jack led the way with a 4:45.245 across the 4km, good enough to qualify 10th, with Rob Walker coming in 5 seconds slower in a 4:50.452.

Both George and Rob were up in the Kilo, with hopes high after Rob’s rapid time last year. However, it was not to be, especially considering George had forgotten to tighten his handlebars after switching, which saw Jack running across the track centre like a frightened rabbit in an attempt to source a 4mm Alan key. Rob posted a 1:10.392, with George (and his tightened handlebars) coming home in a 1:11.556.

The next day brought the Team Pursuit (GS, JB, RW & CR), which remains CUCC’s only slight hope at a medal. After last year’s disappointment, the boys were raring to go, but knew of the challenge ahead of them. Considering the 3 hours of track time the squad had in the run up to the event, a very clean 3:25.790 over 3km was the result, only good enough to Qualify 8th, but also only 4 seconds off the minor final.

The Team Sprint was entered purely for ‘the banter’, coming in 14th, and about 4 seconds slower than the time George had put down on the BUCS entry form.

And in the final event of the weekend came a gripping show, with Jack in the Points race (his first ever real bunch race on the track…). The opening 10 minutes saw Jack up in 3rdplace, after having taken a lap and winning a sprint in the process. Collecting a few more minor points, he unfortunately missed a move which took a second lap, but managed to use his newfound tactical nous to win a sprint after parking it on the front on the bell lap, to allow the catch to happen. The toll of not really riding his bike all that much through Michaelmas began to become apparent, with even Jack’s dad remarking at how utterly gassed he looked. Narrowly missing out in the final sprint, Jack took 5thoverall, just a single place behind a few valuable BUCS points.

 

Cyclo-cross

Back in the great outdoors, and the 2019/20 Cyclo-cross season has arguably been one of CUCC’s most successful, seeing more members racing the discipline than ever, and a number bringing home some superb results, proving that Cambridge riders are capable of winning races that don’t involve aerobars.

Having started the Autumn with intent by winning the Three Peaks race up in Yorkshire, Ffion James has carried stellar form throughout a season that has seen her take the overall National Trophy leader’s jersey with a consistent string of top results.

Pick of these was a victory in the Elite Women at a home race in the sand dunes of Pembrey – one of a number of podium places she would eventually accrue over the course of the series. She was just as impressive over the channel in Belgium, putting in an impressive ride to finish in the middle of the field at the UCI World Cup in Namur, when up against dozens of world class athletes.

Such was Ffion’s form, there’s little space to detail all the victories and results she picked up at local races over the course of the winter too. A solid ride to finish 7that the National Championships in January capped off another great season.

Not to be overlooked though, is this year’s Women’s Captain Elspeth Grace, who’s also managed to pull off consistent performances in the mud. Alongside consistent top ten placings at regional races – and a 12thplace at the York round of the National Trophy – she claimed another great position in the National Championships, finishing in the top 25.

Will Weatherill also had a breakthrough season in the U23 Men, consistently placing in the top 10 overall of races, and winning his age category in the North of England regional championships. An absolutely massive result, though, saw Will come home in 24that the National Championships in January – an amazing performance in an increasingly strong domestic field. Alongside alumni Felix Barker, both also took their bikes over to Belgium, taking to the start line of Ambiancecross alongside Van der Poel, Iserbyt, Pidcock and other royalty!

With BUCS time trials and Varsity drawing ever nearer, CUCC will be taking much confidence from a Winter of strong performances across the board. The Other Place ought to be trembling.

CUCC Dominate at Three Peaks

There might not be many mountains to practice carrying your bike up in Cambridge, but Ffion James (Girton), Elspeth Grace (Girton) and William Weatherill (Homerton) all secured stunning results in this year’s edition of the iconic race. No wonder there’s no BUCS Cyclocross – we’d only sweep the board there too! Social Sec 2019/20 Ffion offers up the full story of last weekend…

On Sunday 15th September, three brave delegates from CUCC headed up to Yorkshire to take on the infamous Three Peaks, arguably the hardest cyclocross race in the world. It comprises 60km up and down 3 mountains in the Yorkshire Dales on a ‘cross bike: drop handlebars, survival bag and emergency whistle all compulsory… Who wouldn’t want to give it a go?!

Ffion on her way to smashing the U23 record time

Nothing can prepare a 3 peaks first-timer for the ascent of Simon Fell, the first summit of the route. The hill creeps up in front of you, getting steeper and more intimidating the closer you get to it. Crawling up a mountain side with 600 other crazy people really makes you question yourself. It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced. The descents are no less insane. Racing blind down a steep, rocky mountain with no suspension, drop handlebars and 50+ psi in your tyres is not to be recommended!

Smile or grimace?

Ffion James and Elspeth Grace nevertheless managed to make it around with both themselves and their bikes in one piece, placing 1st and 3rd respectively in the U23 Women’s category, with Ffion breaking the U23 record by an impressive 35 minutes. Relief was the predominant feeling for both riders as they crossed the finishing line, mixed with a bit of frustration for Ffion who only finished a minute behind the winner in a 3 hour 45 minute race. While she’s sure she’ll be back next year to wrap up some unfinished business, Elspeth is not quite so convinced, having said she only ‘thinks’ she enjoyed it!

Will mid hair-raising descent

Will Weatherill, with a little more experienced than Elspeth and Ffion, was competing in his third Three Peaks and aiming high. He was having an incredible ride, constantly moving up through the field, reaching 12th place by the top of Pen-y-Ghent, the final climb. The extremely fast but on-the-limit descending which had helped Will get into that position sadly came at a price, as he suffered a frustrating two punctures on the final descent. He still managed to hold on to a very impressive 17th place and 1st U23 rider, in an extremely strong field containing the likes of 12-time champion Rob Jebb and EF Education First World Tour pro Lachlan Morton.

What a day for CUCC, with three different riders on the podium at a prestigious event, that isn’t a time trial and includes hills! Bringing home this set of results is really quite special and shows how well-rounded and multi-talented the club is. Congratulations to all three of them!

Let’s see if we can convince a few more testers to take up the challenge in 2020…

Ffion and Elspeth taking 1st and 3rd U23 Women

Will stood on the top step of the Men’s U23 podium

 

CUCC Summer Racing Round-Up

Our riders might have been scattered around the country for the long vacation, but that hasn’t stopped CUCC bringing home a host of fantastic results over the summer months.

Back in late July, one half of the coming year’s social sec team – Ffion James – put in a strong performance on her mountain bike, finishing a fantastic 2nd place in the Women’s U23 race at the National XC Championships at Cannock Chase.

Craig ‘Mystery’ Rogers has been battling away at a load of Northern 2/3/4s, winning the Ian Mountain Memorial RR, finishing 2nd at the Cold Dark North RR and then also competing at the Harlech ‘Hell’ Climb, finishing 6th in a quality field up an especially grim climb (recently recategorised as the steepest in the world!) to show good form as hill climb season comes into view.

Craig Rogers (Fitz) winning the Ian Mountain Memorial RR. Cred. Kieran Metcalfe Photography

Lucas ‘The Bullet’ He has continued a season of great TT results, a particular highlight being the VC Baracchi 50 near Norwich, where he clocked a rapid 1:51:17 to bag a quality 2nd place. He then followed this up with another podium on the 25 mile variant of the same course a week later, finishing in 56:04.

When not trying to finish writing up his PhD thesis, John Mulvey has been casually winning the odd TT here and there, including the Victoria CC and Chronos RT 10s on the same day?!. The latter was won with a rapid 18:51 on the F2A/10 course just west of Cambridge.

Moving into August, aside from seeing his form slide away through a month of 30-minute crits in Crystal Palace Park, Website Secretary Jack Kellam took the club’s Zipp wheels all the way back home to South Wales for an average day out at the CTT Welsh 10-mile Championship near Abergavenny, finishing 15th for a 20:24. Faring far better, however was Women’s Captain Elspeth Grace who traded her standard ‘cross tyres for slicks, coming 5th in the Women’s field in the Victoria CC 10.2 on the Bank Holiday weekend.

Jack Brown (Caius) on his way to a new CUCC 25 record

General Secretary Jack Brown headed over to a dual carriageway near Derby for the rescheduled RTTC National 25 Championships after a summer comprised mainly of lugging touring kit up mountains and trolling the numerous (8!) Loughborough students he keeps beating in road races.

TT-position muscle memory proved strong, however, as Jack churned out the watts to break the club 25 record for the second time this year, posting a 48:09(!) on the A25/11, good enough for a top 10 finish (9th) on the day. Rumour has it he might get his skis out and head down to the R25/3h in South Wales in search of a 47′ next year.

All in all, its been another superb summer of racing across the board for the club with numerous great results and performances not covered here. With another intake of talented freshers just round the corner, things are looking good for BUCS 2019/20, with the season-opener hill climb up Mam Tor fast approaching at the end of October.

Varsity & BUCS 25 Race Report

 

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

11Flora Harpley GreenCambridge1:06:3914
23Olivia JamrogCambridge1:11:364
27Marilou BoddeCambridge1:23:3174

Men’s Results

1Rob WalkerCambridge0:52:0720
2John MulveyCambridge0:52:11120
3Sebastian DicksonCambridge0:52:14105
8Jack BrownCambridge0:53:46100
11Toby CowellCambridge0:54:1130
22Craig RogersCambridge0:55:511
31Jack KellamCambridge0:57:2080
43Lucas HeCambridge0:59:5535
45Jali PackerCambridge1:00:39112
47Euan TebbuttCambridge1:01:0673
49Jonny BodeyCambridge1:02:0962
51Ben FerrisCambridge1:02:4638
52Hans VerschuerenCambridge1:05:0968
54Andrew SalkeldCambridge1:06:2358
56Dan O'RiordanCambridge1:07:07122
58James QuigleyCambridge1:07:4398

Lea Valley 25Mile TT

The second of the early season events after the Great Ely Hardriders saw an absolutely massive 18 CUCC members entered for the solo event.

However, an equally significant forecast for 40mph gusts caused a similarly large 5 people to think better of it and report a DNS and heavy use of synonyms for ‘big’.

As in previous years it also looked to serve as an initial shakedown for Varsity, with  5 OUCC  on the startsheet and some strong pre race chat.

Solo Event

The conditions did in fact turn out to be miserable, with early riders out complaining and worrying the later starters. In the end, only 2 from OUCC turned up, so we can ignore them, as we would have done anyway.

Jack Kellam pulled out a stunning ride to take 4 and a half minutes of his PB in 56:26 and a provisional 3rd place with it – in his 2nd ever open TT! One to watch.
4s back was Toby on his P5, with Toby on his P5 a further 16s back – provisionally taking the team prize and with it the ‘Dick Murphy Memorial Trophy’ for the fastest team from a London East Club.

Flora did 1:17:55, which looks good for a provisional 2nd in the Womens Event.

Andy Salkeld pulled out a 1:06:54 – a very strong ride from the only bloke on a road bike!

A few events stand out: Lucas He recorded an 8 minute late start (not included in the times below), which was impressive.
However, Andy Salkeld, yawning and stretching his arms, got out of bed to take up the challenge. Not realising that, unlike the club run, Greater Anglia will not wait for you if you have a relationship with your alarm clock that is purely advisory, Andy recorded what must be a club record 41 minute late start. (The Comp record for actually riding 25 miles currently stands at 42:58, for comparison). Chapeau! Now get your life in order.

Tom Adams went so fast he managed to catch someone who started 10 minutes after him (or maybe they turned early?!).  Finally,  Toby Antippas queued up behind people all signing the sign on sheet at Sign On, reached over the Signing on Sheet at the Sign On, took the number at Sign On, but did not in fact Sign On to the Signing On sheet at Sign On. Easy mistake to make I guess?

Recent alumnus Seb Baucutt did a 1:14:42.

Team Event

The 2Up Event saw 16 pairs entered, but 3 of them DNS’d with the forecast 40mph winds due to come in just in time for the start of this event.

CUCC was represented by an executive pairing of the President and General Secretary (Rob Walker and Seb Dickson), and would also see the first clash between CUCC and its progeny and reigning National Team Time Trial Champions John Mulvey and Felix Barker for ActiveEdgeRT.

Whilst the winds did pick up, it was nowhere near as bad as forecast (Felix ‘Mystic’ Barker’s prediction ‘oh it’ll be fine’ coming good- how does he do it?). As the forecast was for it to be terrible, it was still fairly grim.

Rob’s Calves and Seb recorded a 52:48, shaving 5s off the club record set by Seb and John Mulvey in the same event two years prior.
Seb’s skinsuit gave up after all of 300m leading to a nasty case of nether numbness. This is best left to the imagination (preferably not even there lets be honest), a privilege alas denied to anyone unfortunate enough to see them around the course. This was actually his spare skinsuit, having neglected to have washed his main (and structurally integral) skinsuit since BUCS Track in December.

In a bit of an upset, this was also good enough to hold off ActiveEdge for nearly a minute with 53:43. No other pair made it under the hour, making it a dominant display by CUCC and its alumni!

#whoarethechampions?

NameTime
Jack Kellam 56:24
Toby Antippas 56:30 (after a bit of grovelling to the event organiser that is)
Toby Cowell 56:46
Lucas He 58:08
Euan Tebutt 01:03:19
Tom Adams 01:03:34
Ben Ferris 01:05:21
Max Vesty 01:07:27
Andrew Salkeld 01:06:54
James Quigley 01:11:29
Carrie Bedingfield 01:17:55 (deffo not Flora)

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

2nd – 20 points – Gonville and Caius College

3rd – 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 
Girton231Jack Brown20:231Ffion James27:19
Gonville and Caius202Rob Walker20:372Elspeth Grace27:57
Fitzwilliam173Toby Cowell21:223Melody Swiers28:13
Jesus144Seb Dickson21:384Olivia Jamrog29:03
St Catherine's135Lucas He21:555Anne-Marie Bowring30:22
Pembroke126Toby Antippas22:016Marilou Boddé31:15
St Edmond's107Craig Rogers22:157Celia Kessler31:41
Corpus Christi98Jack Kellam22:368Hannah Walker32:20
Lucy Cavendish89James Lello23:24
Queens710Jonny Bodey23:32
Hughs Hall611George Spooner23:53
Trinity412Dan O'Riordan24:00
Sidney sussex313Fabio Albertani24:05
Homerton214Jali Packer24:21
King's215Tom Adams24:31
Magdalene216Matt Bond24:33
Robinson217Nick Grogan24:42
Churchill118Kelvin Gomez24:44
Clare119Will Weatherill24:45
Darwin120Max Vesty25:00
Selwyn121Andrew Salkeld25:11
22Euan Tebbutt25:25
23Ben Ferris25:33
24Hans Verschueren25:34
25Alex Pantelides25:48
26Jordan Thornton26:00
27James Quigley26:03
28Alex Petter26:05
29Eliott Lindsay26:32
30Alex Irvine26:35
31James Burdett26:43
32Matt Davison27:39
33Neil Ibata27:46
34Robbie Blythe27:48
35Timothy Wesh27:50
36Daniel Hayes28:00
37Silas Bonestroo28:05
38Daniel Eatough28:29
39Sean Irving28:49
40Joe Bishop28:57
41Johannes Theron29:02
42Lawrence Hollom29:15
43?33:05
Overall
1Jack Brown20:2331James Burdett26:43
2Rob Walker20:3732Ffion James27:19
3Toby Cowell21:2233Matt Davison27:39
4Seb Dickson21:3834Neil Ibata27:46
5Lucas He21:5535Robbie Blythe27:48
6Toby Antippas22:0136Timothy Wesh27:50
7Craig Rogers22:1537Elspeth Grace27:57
8Jack Kellam22:3638Daniel Hayes28:00
9James Lello23:2439Silas Bonestroo28:05
10Jonny Bodey23:3240Melody Swiers28:13
11George Spooner23:5341Daniel Eatough28:29
12Dan O'Riordan24:0042Sean Irving28:49
13Fabio Albertani24:0543Joe Bishop28:57
14Jali Packer24:2144Johannes Theron29:02
15Tom Adams24:3145Olivia Jamrog29:03
16Matt Bond24:3346Lawrence Hollom29:15
17Nick Grogan24:4247Anne-Marie Bowring30:22
18Kelvin Gomez24:4448Marilou Boddé31:15
19Will Weatherill24:4549Celia Kessler31:41
20Max Vesty25:0050Hannah Walker32:20
21Andrew Salkeld25:1151?33:05
22Euan Tebbutt25:25
23Ben Ferris25:33
24Hans Verschueren25:34
25Alex Pantelides25:48
26Jordan Thornton26:00
27James Quigley26:03
28Alex Petter26:05
29Eliott Lindsay26:32
30Alex Irvine26:35

MTB Varsity

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

Town Bike Race 2018

Monday the 29th October was an auspicious day for all aficionados of the sport/high art form of Town Bike Racing*. The course, as set up by statute, was castle hill. The event officials were, at the start: a traffic light, and at the finish Seb Dickson, who was also chief commissaire by virtue of being the more human of the two (not by much).

The nature of the start requires good gridding technique, with only a short neutralised section of about 20m from the Pick to the lights. Men’s Captain Brown secured pole, obviously fancying himself (but that has nothing to do with the town bike race).

Start: A few fluffed starts from the less experienced, those who can track stand getting a mighty benefit. Poor quality of bicycles apparent in the squeaky whiny sounds.

+30s: Like a mass of outsize bats, with gowns fluttering in the wind the pack charges past the gallery and onto the hill proper.

+45s: Jack Kellam’s bike eats his gown. Race over for him. Squeaky whiny sound get louder.

Finish: Charging up towards the finish line booth/ bus stop comes Ben A Ferris (33) with clear air between him and the others, and is not just ahead but is also going the fastest.** Squeaky whiny sound continues.

Finish plus a fair bit: Squeaky whiny sound turns out to be Mens Captain Jack complaining about his bike not working or some other excuse. A strong flat last place for him, obviously didn’t want to embarrass anyone.

 

 

*There are of course 2 definitions approved by the Council of Town Bike Racing, the first one being if someone offers you £70 for your bike, you must accept it; the other one being a bike you’d happily leave outside the train station locked badly to a sign.

**Edwin Hubble’s redshift theory was first applied to the town bike race in Chicago, but it is actually fallacical to assume the first will be going fastest at the end, it is much more useful to go fastest at the beginning. Luckily he realised he could also apply it much more successfully to nebulae or something and now has a space telescope

Thetford Winter XC Series Round 1

On Sunday, a CUCC MTB team comprised of Robbie, Fin and Izaak made the trip to Thetford for the first round of the Winter XC Series. Robbie and Fin were racing in the 1.5hrs Senior Mens category while Izaak opted to make his XC racing debut in the 1hr version. CUCC came away with some great results. Fin got off to a fantastic start (in what was a very chaotic 200 person mass start) and brilliantly managed to further work his way up the field and secure a very impressive 6th place. Robbie suffered from the chaotic start but nonetheless worked his way through the large field, up to 12th. Izaak deserves huge congratulations for coming 6th in his first ever XC race, especially as he must have been one of the only riders on flat pedals!
All in all, a great day racing for CUCC MTB and this is hopefully a sign of more exciting things to come.

CUCC Hill Climb Championship 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.