Eastern Cyclo Cross league - Basildon Sept 8th 2012

The Eastern League cyclo cross season kicked off at Basildon in an event run by Essex Roads CC.  Last years mud racers Tim Brown, John McDowall and Dave Kiely (all racing in the vets plus 45),where joined by Hannah Ormesher competing in the women’s race, and Bryan Holland taking part in the full seniors race of an hour.  

With cyclo-cross apparently being a winter sport, a hot, unrelenting sun was less than ideal and certainly cranked up the suffering level to an even higher notch.  The course was set in parkland, and was a tale of two cyclo-cross courses.  One half involved large amounts of climbing, with some tricky descents and bends to catch the unwary.  Whilst the other half was flat and fast.

Tim, on the back of strong performances last season, was on the front row of the grid, behind which a total of 58 riders lined up.  A strong start was nullified by a dropped chain that dropped Tim several places down the field to ninth.  Battling hard he thought his was back into fourth position before out-sprinting the third and fourth placed riders in the last 100 meters to claim a very commendable third place in the combined vets +45/ Vets+50/vets+60/women results.  Tim was therefore first in the vets +45, completing 6 laps 1.27 down on the winner Dave McMullen of Team GWR, a vet +60 (I’ll get my coat!)

John and Dave where locked in bloody combat for the first few laps.  Both just missed a multi-person metal crunching coming together in the first bend.  Dave managed a spectacular stack on the fourth bend right in front of the galloping mass of the bunch, but bounced up like a baby gazelle and rode hard to catch, and then open a gap on John who had managed to attempt to ride THROUGH a substantial tree with rather predictable results.   A culmination of the heat, and the early laps efforts, and some Dave type meandering involving a lost race number (don’t ask!)  All allowed John to recover some lost ground and nip in front before eventually opening up a decent gap over his team mate.  John finished 18th, with Dave 23rd overall (5.17 and 6.30 down)  Making them the 16th and 21st placed male vets, and 4th and 7th placed in the Vets +45.

Hannah’s first race for the club was a tough one, on what will surely be the hottest day of the cross season, and on one of the hardest courses in terms of climbing and technical bike handling.   However, she stuck to her task ‘girlfully,’ and finished 49th in the combined standing (+1 lap and 7.25), and was  eighth out of eleven women competing.

Bryan faced the full horror of his first cyclocross event and racing for an hour with the temperature dial climbing up towards a  30 degrees.   A quick visit to the pits was required on lap one to fix a loose handlebar.  But Bryan, cheered on by the North Roaders, more than looked the part in his first race pulling all the correct faces of pain and suffering required.   Good progress was made on the next laps battling his way successfully back up the field.  Sadly a puncture required another pit stop, and with no spare wheels a change of tube was required, that must have cost a bucket load of time.  Even with these cruel twists of the cyclo cross gods, Bryan achieved 44th place (74 starters) in the combined Senior/Jun/E Vets results (+2laps and 05), and was 20th vet to cross the line. The winner of his event was Mathew Webber of London Phoenix who completed 10 laps in 1-03.33.

A special mention is deserved for young Joe Kiely, who came 12th in the under 12 race out of 34 starters.  Joe was the sixth under 10 home and more than held his own against riders much older and taller than himself.