North Road Hog Hill Racing 2019
Mon 27 May 2019
North Road loves you more than you will know (Woh, woh, woh)
A fantastic field of 21 entrants for the E/1/2/3/4 Women's Race at the NRCC crit day at Hog Hill. Four North Roaders entered, Abigail Coles, Nicki Chandler, Ivana Prokopova and Nuala Robinson, who in addition to a number of Cat 1&2 riders, also faced tough conditions: a full hour plus three laps on the full course and just to make it interesting, a strong headwind howling down the Hoggenburg.
For Nicki, this was like Mark Cavendish on a mountain day and wisely, she withdrew before the end, leaving the field to the climbers, and joined the rest of us doing the cheering. (Good move, Nicki, always more fun when you are with us)
Abigail did her watching dad proud, grinding round after being dropped early, pain deeply etched on her face all the way round and a big cheer from the crowd when she finally made it home. Character building, Abi...
Ivana, as always, had prepared for the event with her usual meticulous planning, tapering in the final few days by only doing 150 miles over the weekend... With all those miles under her belt and against a field of this quality, it was always going to be tough for her, but she stuck it out gamely and invested in the future of cycling by dragging a teenage shadow round the course for lap after lap (and with the impetuosity of youth, the little ingrate smashed past her on the final lap. Kids, eh??)
But the Anne Bancroft Award for best Mrs Robinson went to Nuala, who has gone from novice racer last year to genuine contender this.For most of the race, two teams of three controlled the lead, with Nuala closing the gap after being distanced on the Hoggenburg. As the race neared its finale, a top 10 had emerged, tightly bunched and Nuala was now nicely set right in the mix. The bell for the final lap saw a group of five pull away from the rest and attack up the brutal final hill and to the delight of the many North Roaders on the finish line, Nuala was among them, beaten at the last only by very strong cat 1&2 riders. A fantastic performance Noulli-Noules, we were all very proud of you (although not as proud as her beaming dad, who did a great job marshalling all day.)
Many thanks to Frank Rawlins and the many volunteers who made it another great day at Hog Hill and congratulations to Nuala, who is going to be a lot of fun to watch over the next few seasons.
Dale Sellers