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 9th 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/
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!
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
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!
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Jack Brown Toby Cowell Craig Rogers | Uni of Cam B | 47:43 |
| 17 | Toby Antippas Lucas He Jack Kellam | Uni of Cam C | 50:54 |
| DNF | Seb Dickson John Mulvey Rob Walker | Uni of Cam A | (49:52) |
Seb Dickson, Jack Brown and John Mulvey on the Men’s Team podium
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
| Pos | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Ffion James | 23:29 (pb) |
| 23 | Flora Harpley-Green | 25:04 (pb) |
| 43 | Anne-Marie Bowring | 28:28 (pb) |
| Pos | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Seb Dickson | 19:36 |
| 7 | John Mulvey | 19:49 |
| 8= | Jack Brown | 19:56 |
| 18 | Toby Cowell | 20:21 |
| 27 | Rob Walker | 20:44 |
| 28 | Toby Antippas | 20:46 (pb) |
| 34 | Jack Kellam | 21:07 (pb) |
| 45 | Craig Rogers | 21:36 (pb) |
| 69 | Tom Adams | 23:29 (pb) |
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?
| Name | Time |
|---|---|
| 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) |
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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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 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!
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.
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
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.