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.
Hill Climbs and Track 2025
By Sannah Zaman
CUCC dived straight into a very busy season with two hill climbs in 2 weeks – the Oxford Hill Climb and BUCS Hill Climb. On the steady but long Wytham Hill in Oxford, Jamie Maxen soared to 3rd place in very rainy conditions. He was closely followed by Dan Taylor in 4th and Ben Proctor in 6th. In the women’s race, all three CUCC entries occupied the top 10 with Sannah Zaman in 3rd, Freya Taylor in 6th and Nina Haket in 9th. As per annual custom we ended the day in the pub for some pizza. A large amount of time was spent debating whether we should mingle with Oxford, eventually settling on delaying it to next year.
Next up was BUCS Hill Climb in Leicester. There was plenty of rain and very cold temperatures but this did not deter our Sam Fitzgerald who powered through the day in shorts (someone please get this man a pair of leg warmers). Again, Jamie Maxen was our top finisher in the open category clocking a very impressive time of 02.32.71 up Terrace Hill. The guys narrowly missed out on 3rd team by just over a second, but strong performances were seen all round with Ewan Collar, Tom Hale, Harry Fieldhouse and Ben Proctor all in the top 20 against a very stacked field. The women’s race then followed and our small but mighty team of Mieke Kalmijin and Sannah Zaman secured 4th place in the team category with Sannah in 2nd.
With the hill climb season coming to a close, it was time for some track racing. A mid-term CUCC adventure to Herne Hill Track was one of the highlights of Michaelmas. For many it was a first experience on the track and everyone was able to get stuck into some races by the end of the session. This then led us to BUCS track where our team of 9 trained tirelessly for a grand total of 4 hours in Derby track in preparation. On the women’s side we had Tegan Tedder, Susi Bosman, Freya Taylor (local Derby hero), and Sannah Zaman. Heading up the men’s team we had Arthur Morris, Tom Hale, Cobi Allen, Felix Baker (who doubled up as our expert mechanic) and Jamie Maxen.
After a few team pursuit trials, several tube changes and only one crash, we headed to Derby. Arthur was our first rider on the track, competing in the open kilo with Tom Hale as DS. Arthur flew around the 4 laps of the track so quickly it was that all anyone saw was a light blue blur. The next morning,we had Freya Taylor racing the Individual Pursuit. She rode into a stunning 8th place with her Derbyshire fanbase cheering from the stands. Next we had the men’s Team Pursuit. Despite the convention of riding the TP together, the boys decided to ride separately on track, breaking the mold with their original tactics. After getting in some solo practice in the TP, Tom Hale was ready to race the open Individual Pursuit. Looking super aero and rumored to hit almost 200W, Tom soared into aseriously impressive 8th against some very experienced track riders. In the women’s Team Pursuit we had Susi, Tegan, Freya and Sannah. Susi was our starting rider and she shot off like a rocket out of the blocks. After 2 very strong laps by Susi, the remaining 3 rode smoothly with consistent lap times (and most importantly did not take each other out).
The bunch races were taken on by Cobi, Jamie, Tegan and Sannah and they were certainly eventful. Cobi put in solid performances in the very chaotic points and elimination races. Jamie rode a very smart elimination race but bad luck took him out prematurely as the wheel of the rider in front of him exploded mid race. Tegan demonstrated her well refined track skills and race intelligence in a very tough women’s elimination race. She finished ahead of many fast riders showing her strength on the track. Sannah raced the points race blind after losing her contacts 4 laps in. Unsure what was going on, she rode near the front and then proceeded to get rolled on every sprint lap. Overall, it was a successful weekend and no one fell off. Big thanks to Freyas mum for cooking amazing food and letting us stay at her house!
BUCS and Varsity Hill Climbs 2024
By Sannah Zaman
VARSITY HILL CLIMB
The 2024 Oxford Hill Climb took place on the 20th of October. We arrived bright an early to a very rainy and cold Wytham Hill, just over a kilometre in length. We had a large team of 14 competing and all CUCC hill climbers set very impressive times despite the adverse conditions! Jamie Maxen took a strong 3rd place in the open category with a time of 03.42.6 closely followed by Dan Taylor in 4th and Ben Proctor in 6th. A solid performance from the women saw all 3 in the top ten with Sannah Zaman in 3rd, Freya Taylor in 6th and Nina Haket in 9th. Unfortunately, Oxford just pipped us for the overall win but the competition was very close. I guess it was nice for them to see their trophies again after a year of being under CUCC care… Preparation has already begun to regain our title in 2025! After filling our legs with lactic acid we went into Oxford centre to fill our stomachs with pizza and beer to round off a fun day out.
BUCS HILL CLIMB
The 2024 BUCS Hill Climb took Place in Leicester on the 2nd of November. The course took us up Terrace Hill, a 1.1km effort with 79m of elevation – mountainous for us Cambridge residents who are well acquainted with the flatlands of the fens. Another very early start alongside lots of rain and very cold temperatures still did not dampen the spirits of the CUCC squad. Tom Hale was the first off for Cambridge setting a rapid time despite the freezing conditions. Jamie Maxen was our top finisher in the open category with an impressive result of 6th and a time of 02.32.71. The guys narrowly missed out on 3rd team by just over a second, but strong performances were seen all round with Ewan Collar, Tom Hale, Harry Fieldhouse and Ben Proctor all in the top 20 (and all within 3 seconds of each other!) proving their hill climb prowess in a very stacked field. After a short break, the women were off. Special shoutout to Sam Fitzgerald for playing the imperial march and other (motivational?) songs for the competitors as they passed. But most importantly the biggest cheers definitely came from CUCC who provided the best support. As a result of being chased up the steepest part of the climb by very loud CUCCers Sannah Zaman placed 2nd in the Female category with a time of 03.09.83 (0.5 seconds off 1st!). Mieke Kalmijin also finished very strongly putting the women’s team in 4th overall. Huge efforts were put in all round from CUCC and we were rewarded by a successful day out and muddy bikes with no bottle cages for Sunday’s club ride.
