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Highlights of the Norwood Paragon Year 2009

Posted: 15th December 2009 | Source: Marchus Brueton, Norwood Paragon CC

The Norwood Paragon has had a great year of racing with even more victories than in 2008 with over 80 podiums and 32 wins in races, competitions and team events throughout the year. This is a great achievement and underlines our strength in depth with 10 different riders claiming victories in 2009. Several riders have progressed up through the ranks with another strong finish to the year from the road racers.

Above left: The club back in March on the Newbury training day. Right: Jason Humphreys tackles the Dengie Marshes.

Following on from two successful training camps in Majorca the Paragon team has bonded well to work as a cohesive unit on the road helping ensure there is always a Paragon in the break or lining out the bunch for the sprint with Steve Calland in particular proving unbeatable on many occasions. Here are some of this year's highlights across the disciplines:

Road Racing

• Steve Calland - South East Divisional Champion, winner of the Easter 3 Day with a 1st and 2nd places in stages 2 & 3. Steve also won at Chertsey and in a 2/3 race on the Bletchingley circuit promoted by Addiscombe. Calland was 3rd in Surrey League rankings and gained promotion to 1st category. Steve also rode very strongly in the FBD Insurance Ras in the Surrey League team where he got a top twenty finish in one of the stages. Calland is also the Paragon 2009 Road Race Champion.
• James Stuart - won at Dunsfold Park (E/1/2) and Walliswood (3) this year on his way to gaining his 2nd category. He also finished 3rd in the Surrey League Handicap Champs and was 10th in Surrey League rankings. 
• Chris Moores - 4 wins and 4 podiums for elite rider Moores in the Imperial Winter Series where he finished 2nd overall. Sadly a knee injury in March has put him out for the rest of the season. 
• Angus MacAlister - another new member with a lot of power! MacAlister started the season with 2 wins in the Imperial Winter Series and has had 6 podium finishes throughout the year including an impressive 2nd place to Alex Dowsett in the Finsbury Park E/1/2. MacAlister rounded off the year with 2 wins on consecutive days in the SERRL Winter Series which also gave him promotion to 1st category.
• Marcus Brueton - several top 10 finishes for Marcus who regularly rode with Dave Kennett in a supporting role for various Paragons. Brueton got a win in the Imperial Series and rode the Ras de Cymru and Dengies Marsh where he finished just in the top 20.
• Nigel Carpenter - 1st place at Alfold (2/3) and a several top 10 finishes from the man who "wasn't going to race this year.
• Mike Ladbrook - 1st place at Wivelsfield Green Handicap and some strong rides showing potential for next year.
• Paul McGuigan - 1st place at Hog Hill (4) in his first full season of road racing.
• There have been a lot of strong rides from various Paragons throughout the year with many riders like Dave K or Andy McKie sacrificing themselves in order to get club-mate on the podium. Likewise there have been some impressive supporting rides from Kevin Davey, Niall Pugin, Alex Mackmin, Russell Painter, Ben Moores and Jason Humphries
• Norwood Paragon missed out on gaining a 5th win at Crawley CC's 2/3 RR at Rusper, but with MacAlister in the 2 man break they did get 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th!

This is just a summary of what has been a very busy year on the road, which has seen the Paragon move up the rankings. In the Surrey League the club is the 3rd highest ranked senior team and 3rd team in the South East Regional Rankings.

Above left: April and Calland wins at Bletchingley (image: Dave Hawyard). Right: The team at the Easter 3 Day.

Time Trials

Several new PBs were set this year by various Paragons with James Stuart and Steve Calland setting some fast times in 2009.

• Stuart - new PBs 10 21:02 and 25 - 57:05 with the latter placing him 12th in the Robin Buchan Memorial.
• Stuart also won both the club evening TT series and the Circuit TT Championship.
• Calland won the Worthing Exclesior 10 on 2nd July with a new PB of 20:36.
• Dan Sullivan was 37th in the National Student 10 with a PB of 22:29.
• Marcus Brueton finally broke his PB of five years with a time of 21:54 in the Old Portlians Open 10 (G10/57).
• E Sussex CA Sporting 24m 2up - Calland rode in a composite team with Mark Clothier to finish 2nd (55:22)
• SCCU Sporting 10 - 11th Brueton (24:26) and fastest on a road bike, 3rd Lady - Kaye Patton (30:17).
• Redhill sporting TT Feb - Stuart 10th (44:31), Russell Painter 13th (46:10) Paul James 21st (47:34).
• Stuart, Brueton and Simon Hazeldine dominated the local TTs in which one of them always finished in the top 3 with just Ben Instone their main obstacle.
• The Paragon fielded 2 teams in the Surrey League 4up, however once again the A Team suffered mechanicals and could only manage 7th place with the B Team in 8th.

Above Left: July, and Steve Watkins tackles the Transalp. Right: October, Simon Warren in action at the National Track Champs.

Hill Climbs

• Catford - 13th Ben 2:14, 20th James Stuart 2:18, 24th Simon Warren 2:09, Phill Burgess 2:31 - Paragon team 3rd.
• Bec - 16th Simon Warren 2:11, 22nd Ben Moores 2:14, 28th James Stuart 2:16, Phill Burgess 2:42 - Paragon team 3rd.
• Warren is 2009 Paragon Hill Climb Champion scaling Ranmore in 2:37.
• National Hill Climb Championships - 37th Warren 4:14.
• Crawley Wheelers Staplefield Hill - 1st Stuart 5:40, 2nd Brueton 5:50.
• Redmon CC Ranmore Hill - 4th Brueton 2:49.
• Kingston Wheelers Leith Hill - 8th Warren 4:10
• Brighton Mitre Steyning - 10th Brueton 4:43
• Brighton Mitre Mill Hill - 9th Brueton 8:30

MTB

The off-road team took part in a wide range of races including local XC series, Mountain Mayhem 24hr race and Gorrick Enduros plus Dusk til Dawn and Transalp.

• Mountain Mayhem 24hr - Vets 2nd - NP ‘A Team' (Steve Watkins, Marcus Brueton, Kaye Patton, Nic Ffoulkes & Stephen Roach), they were also 7th overall in Mixed.
• Gorrick Enduro - 4 laps - 1st Patton; 5 laps - 11th Ffoulkes, 13th Watkins. 
• Transalp MTB Stage Race -Mixed Pairs 37th - Patton & Watkins rode. Ffoulkes & Roach rode as a pair, but Roach missed a stage due to illness and so Ffoulkes got a solo finish of 47th. 
• Gorrick Spring Rd 1 - G Veteran male - 7th Watkins.
• Gorrick Spring Rd 2 - G Veteran male- 5t Watkins, 19th Andy Murray. Veteran female - Patton 3rd.
• Southern XC Champs - Masters - 4th Brueton (Club MTB Champion); G Veteran - 3rd Watkins.
• Brighton Big Dog Enduro - Mixed Pairs - 4th Watkins & Patton.
• Dusk til Dawn - Mixed Pairs - 5th Watkins & Patton, Men's Pairs - 32nd Dave Mascall & Simon Allerdice (composite)

Cyclocross

Andy Murray was the only Paragon racing Cyclo-Cross this year. He put in some strong rides despite often being the oldest competitor in the field.

Stanmer Park London Cross Series 70th. Herne Hill - 49th (20th vet), Stanmer Pk (2) 57th (21 V). No doubt if he hadn't cut his racing season short Murray would have put in an impressive ride in the 3 Peaks as planned.

Track

Simon Warren has raced the track at Herne Hill and in the Nationals this year with several top 5 results including

• Herne Hill Spring Series - Open Scratch - 1st.
• Herne Hill Series 26th Sept - Omnium -3rd, Scratch - 3rd, Points Race - 3rd
• National Track Championships - Kilo - 17th with a new club record of 1:12.9

Triathlon

The Paragon had three triathletes this year: Nic Ffoulkes, Fraser Dawson and Kevin Bailey.

• Lanzarote Ironman - Dawson 35th in category (45-49) 11:00, Ffoulkes 94th 13:22.
• A2 Southwater Sprint Relays - Ffoulkes, Dawson & Bailey rode as team - 2nd in category and 4th overall.

Cyclosportives

Several Paragons rode various Sportives this year with most of them attaining Gold standard. Notable highlights include:

• London-Paris - James Stuart was 5th on GC and 1st King of the Mountains.
• Tour of Wessex - Steve Watkins & Kaye Patton.
• La Marmotte - 5 Paragons took part with Stuart the quickest (6:49) - 55th and 1st Brit home.
• Fred Whitton Challenge - Simon Warren was fastest in the 100km event.
• Land's End to John O'Groats - Marcus Brueton rode this for charity with one other in four and half days.

Promotions

• Stephen Roach successfully promoted the Les Ingman Road Race, which attracted a full field of quality riders. The event was won by our very own Steve Calland.
• James Shrubsall put on a good show for The Robin Buchan "25", which was won by Steve Denis (East Grinstead CC) in a time 52:45.
• The SCRL Handicap Championship Road Race, promoted by Nigel Carpenter at Alfold with a large turnout of Paragons racing and helping. James Stuart took 3rd place with Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport) the winner.

Summary
Once again the club has been able to improve on its results of the previous year with the Norwood Paragon claiming victories across all disciplines and at all levels. The club has reinforced its position as one of the premier clubs in the South East and continues to flourish against many sponsored clubs and teams. The club demonstrated this at the end of the season where they fielded a strong team every week in September and proved particularly dominant leading to 7 podium finishes in 6 weeks.

The standard of both the riders and the club-runs is such that they are now attracting the best of the local riders to train with them both on road and off-road including current divisional and national champions.

It has been great to see the Paragon spirit growing throughout the year, with the popular Majorca training camps, La Marmotte Alpine trip and Newbury weekend providing more opportunities for some challenging riding in good company. The resulting fitness of riders has meant that they have always been able to rely on a strong selection of team-mates in the road races and handicaps to help ensure a good result.

Thanks again to the support of members, various partners and family throughout the year. The Paragon can look forward to some great racing and successful performances in 2010 where they will hopefully see the return to form of Chris Moores and Mike Hawkins with James Stuart and Angus MacAlister no doubt snapping at their heels.

More info on the club: www.norwoodparagon.co.uk

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