Southern XC Round 3
Crow Hill: 18/06/06
By Paul Howard.
New race venues are few and far between in xc racing so to hear that Crow Hill had been introduced to the Southern XC was very welcome. Located in the heart of the picturesque New Forest near Ringwood the terrain and course was similar in parts to Crowthorne and the Rhododendron Woods of Checkendon. The pre-ride revealed a lot of singletrack and short steep narrow climbs in the first half with very few good overtaking spots, so a fast start was required to get in the lead groups. The second half opened out with a long fireroad and gently curving singletrack which was fast and smooth. A few patches of loose sand and corners deep in inches of earthy dust made for extra entertainment as stumps in the trail disappeared under clouds of dust only to reappear right in front of you, catching a few riders rear mech's in the process. Well done to the trail builders for a nice course.
Paul Howard [pic: Robin Smith]
Onto the racing... Calum headed out early in the Youths to a fourth place finish, but was disappointed to be just 25 seconds off the podium. 1st and 2nd were in a league of their own finishing four minutes in front.
Masters had a good turnout of 43 riders. Dean was well into the top 15 during the first lap but retired due to some painful "Superman action" and a lack of "go" saving himself for another day.
The combined Supermaster/Expert category was the usual hard fought affair. With Paul Hopkins training out in France, his rival Mark Hutt (AW Cycles) took a clear win. Paul better watch out because this guy's form is improving race-by-race. I was determined to get a fast start for a change and sprinted into 8th for the singletrack, just trying to hold the back of the lead group for most of the first lap. Disaster struck into lap 3 when my chain broke at the Powerlink with it twisting beyond re-use. You guessed it, I didn't have a spare on me, lesson learnt. Luckily a short walk through the woods to the feedzone and Dean kindly removed his from his bike and got me going again. Though I then re-rode all the opening section of the lap rather than simply rejoin where I left off. Still it was good fun and I was determined to get back on the gas as a final hard session before Mountain Mayhem.
Warren set off in Sport just after the Supermasters and clearly had a tussle with Gerald Tudor pipping him to fourth place with lap times differing by only 30 seconds, excellent pacing. This result should help lift Warren into the top ten in the Rankings.
Round four is at Bordon on the 30th July. If you like it twisty, bumpy and sandy with very few fireroads this is the place. Good handling skills and an ability to be on the power, off the power, on the power, off the power every few seconds should help.
This coming weekend we have two teams entered in the Mountain Mayhem 24 hour race in the Malverns and myself riding Solo. Good luck to everyone.
Full results and Photos
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- YOUTH 4 2 00:51:20 04:40 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 24:54 26:26 MASTER 40 1 00:25:43 DEAN MORGAN 25:43 - - EXPERT/SUPERMASTERS 16 4 01:46:45 17:39 PAUL HOWARD 23:18 24:29 33:35 25:23 SPORT 4 3 01:14:14 05:43 WARREN BATES 24:58 24:28 24:48