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Surrey League a3crg Race’s
Saturday 3rd April 2010; by Graham Robins
Double delight for London Dynamo
The a3crg cycling club, with the help of National escort riders and marshals, promoted two races on Saturday in Hampshire which met with the approval of the riders. In the morning, there was a race for the third category riders and in the afternoon it was the turn of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd category riders to take to the road.
Both races were held on the Milland Hall circuit and run as part of the Surrey Cycle Racing League. The course was based on the West Sussex/Hampshire border near to the village of Liphook. The undulating course had quite a sting in the tail with a 25% climb waiting for the riders, a hill that had to be attempted six times for the 3rd Cats and ten times for the 1/2/3 category riders in the afternoon.
After heavy rain in the area, the circuit had quite a bit of standing water on the edges of the road and as the dirt and grass on the sides of the road turned to mud, quite a bit of it found its way onto the racing lines around the twists and turns making things tricky for the riders.
The morning race set out from the headquarters under gloomy skies but managed to stay dry for most of the event. After a couple of early breaks had gone away and been pulled back, the race soon split when three riders opened up a small gap. With just under three laps to go, Simon Coles (Norwood Paragon CC), Lubomir Belak (private member) and Damien Breen (Kingston Wheelers) had managed to attack and open up a gap which lasted for nearly two laps until at the top of the 25% climb, they were joined by Mike Debney (London Dynamo).
With the finish line looming, Mike made his move and quickly distanced his rivals and as he crossed the line to win the race, he had plenty of time to celebrate a solo victory. After the race Mike said “it had been a hard race but worth it in the end”.
Provisional Results
1. Mike Debney London Dynamo 2hrs 16 mins
2. Simon Coles Norwood Paragon CC
3. Lubomir Belak Private Member
4. Damien Breen Kingston Wheelers
5. Ben Moores Norwood Paragon @20 secs
1/2/3 Category Race
The main race in the afternoon was a fast race where a large group of twelve riders broke free of the bunch and soon opened up a gap of around five minutes. As the laps ticked down, so the lead group started to shrink with riders being dropped and the story was the same in the peloton. At the front meanwhile, the break was being driven along by the Wyndymilla team and with the chasers unable to close the gap down, it was soon clear the winner was going to come from the ever decreasing lead group.
As the leaders started to climb the hill for the final time, it was Richard Simmonds (London Dynamo) who got to the front and was strong enough to get up over it first to take a fine win.
Provisional Results
1. Richard Simmonds London Dynamo
2. Simon Ernest awcycles.co.uk
3. Alex Higham Wyndymilla
4. Gareth McCullough Apire RT
5. Luke Merrilees Wyndymilla
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