E/SE Cyclocross Championships - Sunday 9th December 2012

Hannah Ormesher raced in the women's event which started a few minutes after the vets' category races. Called up for gridding by National Ranking saw her placed on row two of two with a large (for CX anyway) and strong field of 16 riders. 

Having got off to a reasonable start on the grass, the course then raced along a section of solid pathway giving rise to a sprint which quickly thinned out the bunch before the first obstacle - a ditch and mound followed by two hurdles in the organic form of 2 skinny tree trunks. A familiar ride it/run judgement call (ride the ditch + mound) allowed Hannah to make up a bit of time on the rider ahead of her and sit on her wheel. The course led out of the woods onto open fields where progress was slow and sloggy, with riders exposed to a strong wind and boggy terrain reminiscent of the all too recent horrors of Waltham Abbey. The course delved back into a ferny and peaty section of woodland and the ground was firm under the inch of general slush - welcome after the gloop of the fields. 

Some experimenting with tire types and pressure enabled Hannah to feel a lot more secure cornering than she had before and this was crucial to building a lead on the riders behind her and nudging closer to those ahead. She passed a rider on the final lap who she had not finished ahead of before and so finished the race feeling pleased with her efforts, a small personal victory in the grand scheme of the Eastern and South Eastern Champs.  Another thoroughly 'enjoyable' afternoon of suffering. Hannah finished in 12th place, a lap and 3:03 down on the winner Leona Kadir who rode four laps in 42:56. 

 

With John McDowall MIA due to a long list of cycling excuses,  on a challenging course a brief battle commenced between Dave Kiely  and Bryan Holland.  The "sprint" vets length of 40 minutes was new to Bryan and Dave took full advantage early and showed a muddy pair of heels to Bryan on the early sodden fields by some crafty use of get-off-bike-run-as-it-is-quicker-than-riding-through-mud technique that gave Dave an early, and crucial, thirty seconds advantage.  From then Bryan saw only occasional glimpses of the North Road colours ahead where seen in the wooded section but this was a false hope as the route zig-zagged and the gap was optically deceptive. 

The course highlight had to be the big ditch which could not be ridden or jumped and required a committed leap in to the ditch and climb out ( but four times was enough thank-you). Without the extra 20 minutes of Gunpowder Park there was no coming back this time for Bryan and he came across the line to an exhausted ( ed- changed from b******d) but triumphant Kiely Dog who goes 2-1 up in their mini-series.  Dave came 40th, with Bryan currently (incorrectly) listed as a DNF.

Joe Kiely continues his round of good results in coming sixth overall in the U12's, and first U10. Abi Kiely was 27th, but rode round the whole way with mud in her eye shouting "I think I'm gonna DNF". She didn't though - respect!

Report by Hannah Ormesher, Bryan Holland and Dave Kiely