Veteran Men are Cyclo-Cross Inter-Area Team Champions
By: Liz Slater Cyclo Cross Co-ordinator
Posted: 23.01.07
The Veteran team of Graham Edwards, Ross Porter, Clive Powell and Tony Hudson were crowned 2007 Champions at the Inter-Area Team Championships held on Sunday at Bicton Arena near Budleigh Salterton, Devon.
It was a close call though as they were tied on points with the host South West team. With Graham Edwards 4th and Ross Porter 7th it was down to the position of the third counter Clive Powell; his 10th place (the third South West rider was 14th) secured the title for Wales with the South West second and London third. Missing from the team was Welsh Veteran Champion Daren Williams whose car had, unfortunately, broken down on the journey south.
After some heavy showers on the way, bright sunshine greeted the first Wales riders to reach Bicton Arena and racing promised to be fast on a relatively flat course that snaked around and doubled back amongst the various features on the equestrian cross-country site. The ground was well-drained with little of the mud that had plagued 'cross courses around the country for so many weeks.
First to race were the Youth riders; the Wales team of Matt Jones, Jack Llewellyn, Ruby Miller, Gareth Sheppard and Dale Thomas may have been inexperienced and young but they all gave excellent performances against very strong opposition, finishing 7th of 10 teams and hopefully benefiting from the experience. Ruby was the first girl to finish.
The Veterans and Women's races followed but, without a full compliment of riders on the day, Wales were unable to field a Women's team. However, Liz Slater took the opportunity to race and, leading from the start, enjoyed her win.
Seniors line up for their event. Photo by Richard Owens.
A heavy shower before the start of the Senior race made conditions a little less pleasant for the riders.
Wales had two teams entered and initially it looked as though they might improve on their 4th place of recent years as Lee Williams, Ben Simmons and Anthony O'Boyle settled into a group containing Wessex rider Stuart Bowers and London rider Jamie Newall. However, the end of the second lap saw O'Boyle dropping back with a flat tyre.
As Bowers steadily increased his lead it was Simmons who was chasing for Wales with Newall looking dangerous between him and Williams. After a change of wheel O'Boyle was trying to make his way back up the field.
Start of the Vets race as Graham Edwards leads the pack away. Photo by Richard Owens
There was no catching Bowers but Simmons held off Newall for an excellent 2nd place with Williams 4th, his third National event in as many weeks and having hurt his knee in training. O'Boyle finished 24th with fourth Wales A counter Keith Davies 25 th and Wales B riders Gareth James 18th, Osian Meilyr 26th, David Seward 29 th and Freddy Griffiths 30th. London were comfortable winners; with South West and Wessex packing all their 4 counting riders into the top 20, Wales A finished 4th just two points behind third placed Wessex. Wales B were 7th.
Well done and a big thank you to all the riders; we got ourselves noticed for all the right reasons.
A big thank you also to Welsh Cycling Youth Development Officer Ian Jenkins for his support with the Youth team and to all the dads, mums, wives, etc. who travelled down to cheer us on.