Eagle Road Race - Sun 15th June 2008

Eagle Road Race (ERRL) - Ugley, Essex, 96km, cat 3/4 - Sunday 15th June 2008

The day dawned cool and sunny for the five North Roaders scheduled to start the Eagle Road Race on Sunday: Richard Somerset, Jeff Robinson, Nick Latimer, Frank Rawlins and Jonathan Appleby. Jon was making his comeback after breaking his wrist in a road race fall a month ago.

The sixty 3rd and 4th cat riders set off at 9.00am over a rolling, though relatively benign course through Newport, Clavering and Rickling Green, the finishing hill perhaps not the hardest part of the route; that honour reserved for the drag up to Clavering. However it’s the riders that make the race and this day was almost destined from the start to be a fairly easy affair with a frantic dash for the final sprint.

As usual for a 3rd cat race attacks were plenty but success was unlikely with every attack chased down either by several members of the same club or the inevitable ‘bunch engine’. Richard was prominent near the front for the first few laps watching for that gap to a break that was worth crossing. Jon and Nick showed their faces after halfway, Jeff slid backwards and pulled out.

A lone rider had somehow managed to extricate himself from the clutches of the bunch and he was to stay away until the finish (Chapeau!). Jon got into what looked like a good break with a lap to go but stayed away for a few miles only. Richard and Jon then did well to position themselves in the first six riders on the last approach to Clavering, aware that to get a good result on this course you needed to be near the front with a couple of miles to the finish as the narrow lane made overtaking tricky, especially with the oncoming traffic.

Frank then hurtled to the front to attempt a lead out for Jon and Richard but he overcooked it on the left hander to the finish hill and rode onto the grass. Commendably he recovered to surge to the front again but he blew with 1km to go and pulled over for the bunch gallop. Richard was feeling good and placed himself behind a likely looking rider with the prospect of a good result. However some things are not worth dying for and in the melee and amongst the sounds of crashes he was squeezed out and came 9th in the sprint and 10th overall. Jon finished just behind, Nick about 25th and Frank just off the back.

A fair result for the North Road; team tactics should perhaps be agreed at the start and adhered to. We certainly have the strength, just a shame that Nick is moving away to Sheffield in a few weeks. Anyone want to take his place in the mad world of 3rd cat road racing?

Richard accepting his winnings for 10th place