Southern XC Round 1
Chazey Woods, Mapledurham: 22/04/07
By Warren Bates
Round one of the Southern XC championships took place on the 22nd April in Mapledurham, near Reading. Once again the weather was beautiful, thanks to Global warming it seems that mountain biking has prospered so far in 2007.
The Mountain Trax team had a slightly reduced number for the race due to Dean visiting foreign climbs (the Houfalize World Cup), Chris running a shop somewhere (where does he work again?), and John and Lorraine deciding they would rather concentrate on some of the bigger events.
A quick run down saw Calum in Junior men, Clive in Grand Vets, the Pauls (Hoppy & Howard) in Supermaster and me (Warren) in Sport.
Warren leading eventual winner Chris Lane
[ Photo courtesy of: BBE Photos, Stuart Brazier ]
First off was Calum in the Juniors. With a relatively small field compared to most, Calum was in for a good battle with archrival Jake Moxham. Hearts were in mouths on the first lap when Calum came round with some gap behind Jake. The dirt and scratches pointed to an early crash, but Calum still looked strong. After a fantastic effort, Calum caught Jake and a two-lap battle ended with Calum sprinting to a well-deserved win.
Next out was Clive in the Grand Vets (how old?). The fast paced racing does not reflect the name, and Clive went out fast from the start. Perhaps a little too fast as his lap times slowed for the next two laps. Clive persisted to finish in a strong 9th position, but said he was frustrated, and didn't know how he would catch the elusive Ray Crosthwaite. He'll be back for more at the Gorrick and the next BMBS, stronger for the experience.
The Pauls set off next in the ridiculously fast Supermaster race, pushing lap times that would be impressive in the Elite race. Unfortunately, I didn't see the race as I was out there myself, but Hoppy rode strongly, obviously recovering well from his off-season illnesses and said that he felt good. Good enough for third is obviously what the rest of us would call amazing! Mr. Howard again showed us how to ride single-track with some very consistent lap times on the tough twisty circuit, although rumour has it that he crashed twice on the first lap, one being a big leap over the bars incident followed by a 20m run/stagger down the hill to keep on his feet!
Masses of bluebells made for a pretty race course
[ Photo courtesy of: BBE Photos, Stuart Brazier ]
My race started just behind the Supermasters and Experts (but didn't see them funnily enough). Our race was fast fun with a big lead train forming for the first two laps, which for a nice change, I was in! The pace started to slow on the third lap so I decided to go for it, riding the third lap on my own at the front. By the beginning of the fourth lap, I began to run out of talent and was caught by a young whippersnapper fresh from Juniors. I held on for the last lap to a pleasing third place and my first podium.
A big thank you to Lorraine for manning (womanning?) the feed station for us all too. You did a grand job and the post race cake went down a treat. :-)
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- JUNIOR 1 3 01:04:44 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 21:20 22:01 21:23 GRAND VETERAN 9 3 01:17:27 06:30 CLIVE ELY 24:30 26:05 26:52 SUPERMASTER 3 4 01:24:57 03:58 PAUL HOPKINS 20:23 21:25 22:05 21:04 12 4 01:34:11 13:12 PAUL HOWARD 22:50 23:25 23:52 24:04 SPORT 3 4 01:31:50 01:11 WARREN BATES 22:33 23:24 22:40 23:13