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Dancing On Ice - Wessex Style

This race was held in sub-zero temperatures at the Southampton Sports Centre with the course covered in frozen snow and sheet ice. With the course rock hard the course builders did a wonderful job of sticking in the poles for the tape. The little bit of the course that did de-frost very soon re-froze as the sun dropped away.

The morning got underway with the fearless youth riders making it look easy as the skipped across the ice at pace. First to make a break were the two Hargroves Cycle riders Matt Hargroves and Harvey Lowe. These two team mates soon pulled out a big lead over the chasers including Jack Netherwood (1st Gear Cycles) and Jack Phillips (Banjo Cycles). The leading girl was Zoe Sheehan. As the laps ticked away the two leaders were over four minutes in front of third place. The conditions meant that most of the minor places did not change and it was Matt who pulled out from Harvey to take the win by 24secs.

Next race on the full course was the Vet/ Women/ Jun race. After the shakeup of the first couple of laps the leaders were Keith Sheridan (Hargroves Cycles), Bill Girvan (North Hants RC), and Malcolm Cross (Hargroves Cycles) and junior rider Luke Cowley (Swindon RC). Also near the front riding well in the conditions were Anthony Green (GA Cycles) and Anthony Dyment (North Hants RC). The leading woman was Hannah Bowers (Mulebar Girls)

With the three leaders now pulling away and building a large gap it soon became apparent that we had lost the leader Keith, who had had a very heavy fall whilst trying to get away from Will and Malcolm. Another rider enjoying the conditions and moving up the order was Dave McMullen (Evans Cycles), he soon found himself in third place but nearly a minute down of the two leaders.A further 30secs down was Anthony Green and Luke was over 2 minutes behind him.

With the last lap started the leaders were together, but when they came in the icy middle section towards the finish line Bill had just opened up a gap and he finished first taking his maiden Cyclo cross win.

With sun dropping as quickly as the temperatures the senior race got underway with a slight modified course because of thick ice forming on the of camber bank around the cricket ground,  Within a lap it was clear that the three riders at the front were never going to be caught. Newly crowned South of England champion Luke Gray (Hargroves Cycles), along with team mate Stewart Bowers and Michael Cotty (Wheelbase.co.uk/Cannondale). Riding near the front was Steve James (100%ME) and Rob McCarthy (VC Meudon), who also had Matt McDonald close by.

Lap after lap the three riders at the front were together with no more than a couple of seconds between them, then with two laps to go the Hargroves riders appeared together but without Michael but in the twisty switchback middle section he go back on the wheel again. With a lap to go the lead changed hands with each rider making a small mistake but the other two were unable to take advantage. There really was only one fast line around the course and going outside this was losing time.

With half the lap to go the two Hargroves riders were neck and neck but Michael was close by if either of them had a tumble, but it was Stewart who took the win on the line in a close sprint finish.

Results

U12

1st Erin Baker Southdown Velo Race Time 11 minutes 50 seconds
2nd Bethany Lewis VC Jubilee @ 1 minute 10 seconds
3rd Rebecca Hurst Poole Wheelers @ 1 minute 27 seconds
4th Ryan Hodgekins Poole Wheelers @ 1 minute 35 seconds
5th Alderney Baker VC Jubilee @ 1 lap
6th Natalie Moore Swindon RC "
7th Harry Dridge Southdown Velo @ 2 laps

Youth

1st Matt Hargroves U16 Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI/Scott 4 laps 30 minutes 18 seconds
2nd Harvey Lowe U16 Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI/Scott @ 24 seconds
3rd Jack Netherwood U16 1st Gear Cycles @ 4 minutes 09 seconds
4th Jack Philips U14 Banjo Cycles @ 5 minutes 00 seconds
5th Rob Bolwell U16 Wight Mountain RT @ 5 minutes 39 seconds
6th Leon Mander U16 Chaple Tri Stars @ 1 lap
7th Zoe Sheehan U14G Swindon RC "
8th Hazel Jowett U16G Chaple Tri Stars "
9th Susannah Moore U14G Swindon RC "
10th Megan Lewis U14G VC Jubilee "

Junior / Veteran / Women

1st Will Girvan Vet North Hants RC 6 laps 43 minutes 27 seconds
2nd Malcolm Cross Vet Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI/Scott @ 18 seconds
3rd Dave McMullam Vet Evans Cycles @ 52 seconds
4th Antony Green Vet GA Cycles @ 1 minute 30 seconds
5th Luke Cowley Jun Swindon RC @ 3 minutes 03 seconds
6th Antony Dyment Vet North Hants RC @ 3 minutes 45 seconds
7th Kevin Blann Vet Team Rose Blann @ 5 minutes 12 seconds
8th William Macke Vet Palmer Park Velo @ 5 minutes 17 seconds
9th Martyn Diamond Vet New Forest CC @ 5 minutes 40 seconds
10th Nigel Page Vet Unattached @ 5 minutes 57 seconds
11th Andy Smith Vet Swindon RC @ 6 minutes 08 seconds
12th Ian Macdonald Vet Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI/Scott @ 6 minutes 08 seconds
13th Robert Tutt Vet GS Europa @ 7 minutes 08 seconds
14th Hannah Bowers Wom. Team Mulebar @ 8 minutes 45 seconds
15th Tim Collins Vet 1st Gear Cycles @ 1 lap
16th Louise Mahe Wom. Sutton CC/DeVeer "
17th Stuart Grace Vet GA Cycles "
18th Steve Dines Vet Wight Mountain "
19th Andrew Pond Vet Unattached "
20th Simon Hall Vet Andover Wheelers "
21st Cory Shaddox Vet CoBikeLaw.com (USA) "
22nd Karen Murphy Wom. Wight Mountain "
23rd Phillip Chinn Vet Fareham Wheelers "
24th Claire Smoth Wom. Swindon RC "
25th Vernon Moore Vet Crabwood CC "
26th Martin Ward Vet Sotonia CC "
27th Richard Bremner Vet North Hants RC "
28th Chris Mison Vet North Hants RC @ 2 laps
29th John Burrows Vet Poole Wheelers "
30th Graham Hurst Vet Poole Wheelers "
31st Nicky Volley Wom. Wight Mountain "

Senior

1st Stuart Bowers Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI/Scott 9 laps 56 minutes 44 seconds
2nd Luke Gray Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI/Scott @ 01 second
3rd Mike Cotty Wheelbase/Cannondale @ 08 seconds
4th Steve James 100% ME @ 2 minutes 19 seconds
5th Matt MaDonald Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI/Scott @ 2 minutes 32 seconds
6th Rpbert McCarthy VC Meudon @ 3 minutes 47 seconds
7th Sam Allen AW Cycles @ 4 minutes 20 seconds
8th Nick Onslow Pedlon.co.uk @ 4 minutes 54 seconds
9th Perry Bowater ASFRA @ 7 minutes 07 seconds
10th Chris Atkins Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI/Scott @ 1 lap
11th Steve Bale Reading CC "
12th Robin Wilmott GA Cycles "
13th Jason Blann Team Rose Blann "
14th Luke Webber Yetti Cycles "
15th Chris Dodd Unattached @ 2 laps
16th Matthew Treviss Southampton University "
17th Marc Dobson Unattached "