Rob and Seb get their full blues!

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Rob Walker and Seb Dickson travelled down to near Bristol for the National Circuit Championships, with the aim of collecting a top 50 to accomplish their full blues.

With Rob having his end of term project just finished and Seb finally getting round to doing the whole finish a degree thing (‘both the most and least anticipated event of the year’) with finals, masters dissertation write up etc neither had the sharpest legs.

The course was the same used for the BUCS TTT – a technical and somewhat lumpy if scenic romp around the roads near Tomarton.  There was varying familiarity with the course – Seb from his 5 previous appearances in that event and Rob from a previous 2 (even if on the second appearance he got confused by a slight corner perniciously pretending to be a straight road and cycled off the side of it. See: BUCS TTT 2019). However, unlike the BUCS TTT  this turned out to be two laps  (40miles), a rather different proposition for the inherently lazy who like their bike races to be over quickly so they can get back to eating cake.

In the end, the very strong field on paper was hollowed out slightly by misfortune, with world tour pro Harry Tanfield having exceptionally poor luck to puncture cycling to the start, and even worse luck to do that next to Seb, whose cheery offer of an out of true 10 speed mavic aksium with a seized freehub was summarily disregarded by the Katusha Alpecin rider.

Rob set a time of 1:30:54 round the course, managing not to get foxed by mischievous ‘roads with slight changes of direction’ and this was good enough for 13th on the day, beating many impressive names, and easily clearing the barrier to converting his half blue from winning the varsity match for his maiden full blue.

Seb  could only find one sock and no overshoes or skinsuit having been too hungover packing the day before. He further thought he’d prove that testing your race nutrition strategy before hand is a good idea by not doing so; chugging his first gel in about 4 years then throwing it back up 10 miles later along with his breakfast, all over the skinsuit he had borrowed that morning. As such, there is not much photographic evidence of the assymetric vommity twit. Despite this, he did 1:27:24 and clung on for 7th, getting his final full blue to add to the previous 2 and a half.

It now just remains for John Mulvey to attempt his and they will get the full set!

Seb and Rob at the Circuit Champs

 

Varsity & BUCS 25 Race Report

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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

Easter break report – Continued open success and a new Club Record!

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Despite BUCS being the main goal for most of our riders, CUCC have been dominated open races across the country!

The weekend before BUCS TTT, John Mulvey won the West Suffolk Wheelers & Tri Club sporting 21 mile Time Trial by almost 4 minutes! Also at the race was Hans Verschueren in 16th. Seb Dickson also fancied a bit of road racing, and won the Paul Simon Homes RR, soloing to the win.

A very aero Seb on his way to victory in the Medway Velo

Whilst we had a few riders in action at the TTT, we had Nick Grogan competing in the Manchester & District TTA 10 Mile TT, coming 51st in a 25:05. Also in action was Max Vesty at the Harrogate Nova CC 15m TT, recording a 36:07 to come 20th, whilst Euan Tebbutt came 18th at the Coalville Wheelers CC 10, in a time of 24:26.

Jack winning the Ilkley CC open 10

The day after, we had six riders in action and recorded two wins! Seb Dickson won the Medway Velo Club 21.9m TT, with a winning margin of 36 seconds, whilst Jack Brown won the Ilkely CC 10 up in Yorkshire, with his 24:12 being over a minute quicker than his nearest rival! Toby Cowell rounded out the Ilkley podium with a 25:20 on a really windy and hilly course, with Max Vesty recording a top 15 too. Rob Walker was down in Wessex, looking to start off a successful defence of his Espoir title at the National TT series. He recorded a strong 5th overall, and 2nd Espoir. Away from TTing, John was racing the Wally Gimber Nat B with the Activeedge Race Team, coming 14th, whilst Women’s Captain Ffion came 6th at the 1st round of the National MTB XC Elite Series.

John Mulvey in action at the Chelmer CC Hardriders (photo thanks to Davey Jones)

Anne-Marie Bowring was our sole representative at the 10 put on by the University of Bristol Cycling Club, once again PBing with a 30:06. Lucas He put in a storming performance at the Orwell Velo 20m TT, coming in 2nd in quite a strong field! We had 4 riders at the Chelmer CC Hardriders just south of Cambridge. Seb was the quickest CUCC rider of the day, coming 3rd, with John Mulvey in 7th, Tom Bishop in 26th and Ben Ferris in 41st. Jack continued his fine form, taking his 3rd victory over 10 miles in 2019 at the Stretford Wheelers 10 in Cheshire.

Tom Bishop at the Chelmer CC Hardriders (photo thanks to Davey Jones)

It would appear there’s no better way to spend Mother’s day than with a few TTs! Jack Kellam visited his local ski slope that is the R25/3h in his quest for a PB. He came 8th in a classically competitive field for the fastest 25 course in the country, and rode a 52:13. James Quigley took a visit to his home club’s event, the City RC (Hull) 15 mile TT, riding a 40:05 with clip ons.

At the Lewis Balyckyi Crit Series in Preston, Will Weatherill recorded his first ever points, with 9th in the 3/4 race.

Ben Ferris at the Chelmer CC Hardriders (photo thanks to Davey Jones)

Dan O’riordan rode in the Kingston Phoenix RC 10 on the 6th April, coming 36th with a 24:02. Also that day saw the on-form Lucas He also PB over 25 miles at the Lea Valley 25 along the E2/25, riding a rapid 50:28.

The very day after the BUCS 10, Rob travelled up to Worcester to ride in the 2nd round of the Sigma Sport Classic Series, coming 6th in a strong field, and with some quite tired legs I imagine!

Lucas He on his shiny new P3

A small contingent of CUCC riders also decided to pay homage to the mighty R25/3h, with the 25m Club Record (48:45 set by Michael Hutchinson in 1999) being the goal of the day. It looked like sub-optimal conditions for the course, with the wind facing in the completely wrong direction. Despite the mechanical help of alumni Felix Barker, Seb was 44 seconds late to his start due to an ill-timed puncture, but still recorded a mid 50, with Craig Rogers riding a 52:36 in his first ever 25-mile TT. A straight seed at the end of the event made for some interesting riding, meaning Toby was Jack’s minute man, with the two’s PB being separated by 6 seconds before the race! Also racing was Scott Davies of Team Dimension Data, although his efforts on a training camp in Gran Canaria seemed to have taken their toll. A quite frankly stupid descent gets the course going, with some riders going in excess of 50mph on the skis. At the end of the 25 miles (finishing at the bottom of the big hill), Jack had taken the club record (set when he was just 3 months old) by 24 seconds, recording a 48:21 and also finished 2nd on the day to Chris Fennell, with Toby also riding home with a 50:16.

Women’s Captain Ffion

Ffion was also in action at the ‘Battle on the Beach’ in South Wales, coming 2nd despite an unfortunate crash on the first lap, and getting to within touching distance of the race leader near the end!

Next up sees CUCC continuing to race at Open TTs, Road Races and MTB races, before Varsity at the start of term!

BUCS TTT & 10

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After a fairly solid start to the season, with a host of open victories under our belt, we were itching to get started with our 2019 BUCS Time Trial campaign. Hoping to repeat the success from last year (including topping the BUCS cycling table and a national TTT title), we were somewhat confident in continuing our domination. However, the best-laid plans….

Men’s A Team on the start line

Saturday 23rd March – BUCS TTT

With a host of new talent coming into the club, we had 3 men’s teams and 1 women’s entered to race round the quite rolling 22 mile course in the Cotswold hills. A north-easterly wind meant for some fast conditions, with our course record from 2018 looking under threat, but hopefully only from our A team!

The first bit of bad news came when an unfortunate last-minute virus caused us to have to pull our Women’s team from the event, but we were still hopeful of bringing home a raft of BUCS points regardless.

Our first team off on the day consisted of a squad of freshers (Jack Kellam 1st year PhD, Lucas He and Toby Antippas both 1st year Natscis). A late arrival meant that they couldn’t recce the course before-hand, meaning the team took two wrong turns, and as a result lost about 90 seconds. Coming home in a still respectable 50:54 in 17th place, still beating lots of other A teams. Who knows what could’ve been!

The next team off the line was our Men’s B team, consisting of a trio of northerners; ever impressive fresher Craig Rogers (on his lovely Cervelo P3), Men’s Race Captain Jack Brown, and the ever rapid Toby Cowell. Things seemed to be going to plan, but then Toby’s nose decided to spontaneously start bleeding, leading to a very red skinsuit and a load of breathing struggles. They came home in a very creditable 5th place (only 4 seconds off 4th) in a time of 47:43, beating all but 4 uni A teams. With a few more years yet to come, it’s looking positive for the future!

After a short briefing to the A team, consisting of veterans Seb Dickson, John Mulvey and joined by President Rob Walker. Our guys were on for a storming time when an unfortunate racing incident from Rob meant we only finished with two riders. Unfortunately, it’s an example of how unpredictable bike racing can be, but we’ll be back again with a vengeance next year!

PosNameTeamTime
5Jack Brown
Toby Cowell
Craig Rogers		Uni of Cam B47:43
17Toby Antippas
Lucas He
Jack Kellam		Uni of Cam C50:54
DNFSeb Dickson
John Mulvey
Rob Walker		Uni of Cam A(49:52)

Seb Dickson, Jack Brown and John Mulvey on the Men’s Team podium

Saturday 6th April – BUCS 10

Putting a disappointing day behind us from the TTT, we collected ourselves and targeted the next event; BUCS 10. With a load of success at previous editions of this race, we were hoping we could once again go well and get back on top. We had a squad of 12 set out to sunny Oxford, on the 10-mile version of the course than had brought us much success at Varsity last year.

We had a few riders off early doors, with Tom Adams our first rider home in a new PB of 23:29. The ever-keen Anne-Marie Bowring set off just two minutes behind Tom, and also set a new PB of 28:28 (on a road bike with clip-ons!).

Next off came Rob Walker, hoping to set a strong early marker. A 20:44 was recorded, a good time despite a turbulent week of training leading up to the event. After a rapid rise to the very top of the CUCC racing squad, Toby Cowell then set the quickest early time for us, recording a 20:21, showing us that conditions were quite difficult out on the course.

Our very own Welshman Jack Kellam was next off, improving on his previous 10m PB set at Cuppers by over a minute, recording a 21:07. The theme of tropical students then continued, with Flora (hailing from slighty-less-sunny-than-Wales Australia) recording a 25:04. This was narrowly short of coming top-20 overall, but a great ride none the less!

A slight bit of number trouble ensued for Freshers’ TT victor Toby Antippas (pinning number 66 upside down, and only realising 2 minutes before his start), but regardless he came home with a 20:46, also a PB in only his second 10-mile TT! Then came Men’s Race Captain Jack, who after a strong run of form in open events up in Yorkshire, recorded a 19:56, to sit provisional joint 2nd on the day.

After impressing at the TTT, fresher Craig Rogers did a new PB of a 21:36, coming to the realisation that he much prefers riding uphill and not along dual carriageways. Women’s captain and cyclocross star Ffion James then set a 23:29, which ended up being the 7th fastest time of the day, not bad considering it was the first ride on the TT bike she borrowed days before!

Only two more CUCC riders were yet to ride, in the ever-ancient pairing of Seb Dickson and John Mulvey. An ill-timed car puncture added even more pressure than normal to Seb, but despite this he brought home the fastest CUCC time of the day with a 19:36, narrowly missing out on the Bronze medal by 4 seconds. John followed behind to record a 19:49, good enough to get 7th on the day.

At the end of the day, we had Seb, John and Jack bringing home the Team Silver with a combined time of 59:21, agonizingly close to the 59:15 that a strong Nottingham team recorded to win Gold. Flora and Ffion’s combined time got them 5th Women’s team on the day, gaining CUCC some of those precious BUCS points. 7 of our 12-strong squad also recorded PB’s. Well done all!

The CUCC Squad, L-R
Jack Kellam, Flora Harpley-Green, Ffion James, John Mulvey, Seb Dickson, Jack Brown, Craig Rogers, Toby Cowell, Tom Adams, Toby Antippas, Anne-Marie Bowring

 

Women’s Results

PosNameTime
7Ffion James23:29 (pb)
23Flora Harpley-Green25:04 (pb)
43Anne-Marie Bowring28:28 (pb)

Men’s Results

 

PosNameTime
4Seb Dickson19:36
7John Mulvey19:49
8=Jack Brown19:56
18Toby Cowell20:21
27Rob Walker20:44
28Toby Antippas20:46 (pb)
34Jack Kellam21:07 (pb)
45Craig Rogers21:36 (pb)
69Tom Adams23:29 (pb)

Lea Valley 25Mile TT

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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

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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

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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

Ely Hardriders 2019

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Ely Hardriders isn’t just the first TT of the season that CUCC turn out to in force, but in fact only the second open TT of the season across the country! Being held in February, it is infamous for attracting terrible weather to what is possibly the sketchiest TT course going (even in good conditions!), and to top it all off, it’s in the Fens (I know there’s a few club members who in hushed tones would admit to enjoying the Fens, but I can assure you they’re misguided!).

Although a few riders were struck down with illness, CUCC nevertheless turned out in large numbers on the day, with 8 riders from a field of 43 starters and a keen eye on securing the team prize for another year in a row.

As expected, the heavy rain overnight continued for much of the morning, turning pothole-ridden roads into puddle filled roads with the potholes lurking just beneath the surface (lovely)! Warm-ups were mostly minimal, riders preferring the dry HQ to what lay ahead outside, but one-by-one we set out into the cold and onto the course.

Thankfully, all CUCC riders made it round without major incident, and on returning to the HQ, there were some fast times being posted across the board. The competition was very close at the sharp end, with Toby missing out on the win to CUCC alumnus and housemate Felix Barker by only 3 seconds, and Rob just a further 11s adrift in 3rd! We claimed 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 13th,17th and 26th place, as well as doing enough to win the team prize thanks to rides from Toby Cowell, Rob Walker and Lucas He.

A well-earned congratulations to all those that rode today, especially those taking part in their first 25-mile TT – they’re not all this nasty! A special mention goes to Lucas He, who was the fastest fresher on the day, completing the course in 58:41.

Photos by local stalwart Davey Jones.

 

 

Toby Cowell 2nd 56:28
Rob Walker 3rd 56:39
Jack Brown (AERT) 5th 58:10
Lucas He 7th 58:41
Jack Kellam 9th 1:00:54
Jali Packer 13th 1:05:28
Thomas Adams 17th 1:08:42
Andrew Salkeld 26th 1:13:18
John Mulvey (AERT) – DNSA
Seb Dickson – DNSA

Full results can be found here in due course.

 

The next major event on the race calendar is Varsity Cross-Country on 24th February (see below for sign-up), where we head to Hadleigh park in an attempt to retain the crown of Varsity XC champions!

 

CUCC at CTT’s Champions Night

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On Saturday the 19th of January was ‘Champions Night’, held at Heythrop Hall near Oxford.
This is the annual awards dinner for time trialling in the UK, and is so called because it celebrates the winners of the various championships , and it happens at night time. This is clever, as otherwise it would be called ‘not champions mid-afternoon’ or something (aka just after lunch every day in Oxford, amirite?).

Riders from Cambridge University Cycling Club had one of the club’s best seasons in the national scene for nearly 20 years, and so the club had several people representing them. The master of ceremonies for the evening was Michael Hutchinson (CUCC Blue 1997, as well as  over 60 national titles) whose efforts lead to one of CUCC’s last national successes when they won the team prize in the National 25 way back around the turn of the last millennium.

Rob Walker received the prize for winning the Espoirs category in the Classic Series, taking home a nice pair of Knight Composite wheels.

Rob Walker – Winner, Espoirs, Classic Series

 

John Mulvey and Seb Dickson were along to collect their trophy for their National title in the team time trial. Those familiar with this will remember it as a slight debacle, involving rather more of the rule book than anyone wanted to see. A highlight included Seb being reported for not being a member of CUCC (bafflingly), the head of CTT legal then investigating this, and then Seb politely referring him on to the CUCC membership secretary to confirm this. In a plot twist, this turned out also to be Seb. Perhaps understandably, this was not taken as sufficient corroboration!
However,  the end result was these  shiny hats, and who can say no to that? (Seb spilt beer on his within 5 minutes, so his keepsake is now permanently spoilt).

 

Keen bean/ robot that John is, he actually cycled the 90 miles there, only turning up 40 minutes late in the process, (competitive by CUCC standards). CTT loving a late start/sign on as they do (they don’t) this was slightly stressful and he had to get changed in a loo with Seb shouting the countdown theme at him through the door. Felix Barker, the remaining member of that team (also the one that did the vast majority of the work round the course),  was unable to attend because he didn’t get his response in on time (also a CUCC trademark). Amazing how they even fought their way out of the womb those two.

Seb Dickson and John Mulvey with Alf ‘the King’ Engers- National Team TT Champions!

Guest of honour was renowned 1960s and 70s cyclist Alf ‘the King’ Engers, who was the first person to break 50 minutes for 25 miles, although is equally remembered for the number of times the RTTC changed the rules to try and thwart him.

At the dinner after the awards ceremony, several alumni came forwards to have a chat, leading to some interesting conversations about times gone by, and the potential for some events going forwards!

The next morning, much was made of the free breakfast, including jamming pockets with pastries for ride food.
Seb vomited into a bush, John cycled home and Seb and Jack went to Oxford to crash the OUCC club run.