Durham University Cycling Club

Today, Nathan Edwards and Alex Clayton went to Hog Hill to for a 4th cat and 3rd/4th cat race respectively. The 2km course at Hog Hill is, though being easy technically, with long sweeping corners, the most demanding custom built circuit we’ve come across. As the Hill in the name suggests, the circuit contains a very hard sharp climb up to the finish.

First to ride was Nathan in the 4th cats. Needing just 2 points to move up a category, he needed 8th place or better from a field of 40. The race started relatively fast and never really got slower. Nathan attempted to spice things up a bit up the climb on the second lap by riding off the front. He succeeded in splitting the field but almost getting tailed off himself. Over the next few laps cracks appeared and the front group was whittled down to 20. With half the race gone a couple of riders who had appeared very strong in the opening stages went off together and Nathan had to make a big effort to initiate the chase. At the finale a group of 15 charged up the hill with Nathan coming a very respectable 5th despite having wasted energy in a couple of pointless efforts earlier on. Lessons learned, next time they’ll be 3rd cats he’s against.

Sadly Alex’s ride was slightly less successful. After sitting comfortably in the bunch for 15 laps, he punctured, and because of the proximity to the end of the race wasn’t allowed a lap out. The puncture was a fairly exciting affair, coming halfway through the first corner which is downhill and possibly the tightest corner on the course. This led to some serious rear wheel drifting and one rider having to take a brief detour off-road. Thankfully though everyone stayed upright!

For the second of the training races at Hetton, DUCC had a much larger showing. The race was fast and fractured multiple times due to Alex Clayton’s strong pace and a crash in the early laps. Once again going for primes, Alex gave Nathan Edwards the perfect lead out in the first (amongst the 4ths/Novices) and once again did great work to give Nathan two of two a few laps later once the elites caught the group.

After that Nathan was dropped and Alex managed to take another prime from a small breakaway group. After that he dropped out of the break and sprinted to 2nd in the main bunch. Ben Howard did well to stay in the break till the end picking up 4th. Nathan ended up with the leading duo, albeit a lap down, and managed to end with a strong sprint almost out sprinting the winner.

A good show, the team is definitely ready for a successful easter campaign in the south.

Roster: Alex Clayton, Nathan Edwards, Tom Rawlinson, Ben Howard, Joe Stonham, Martin Ivanek, Kat Broadbent.

February saw the start of the 2010 Kielder Mountain Marathon series with the Kielder Winter Warmer, and the Durham mini-race for BUCS champs places. After being delayed due to bad weather, everyone was raring to go; even if there was still a crisp layer of snow on the higher tracks. The format was pretty standard for kielder, however this time the race started with a ‘non-competitive’ section along the reservoir. This allowed some of the speed merchants to get ahead, including a GB rider, in full GB skin-suit (I’ve gotta’ get me one of those. . .). Then came the first big climb. Out of the Durham riders Matt Wilson went for a quick start, followed closely by Tom Hards. Towards the top of the climb the race left fire-road and joined a singletrack trail. To many peoples ‘disappointment’ the GB rider had a mechanical and took the walk of shame back down the trail.

The snow on the higher tracks was a good 6” thick, and any rider straying from the tracks cut by a landrover earlier had a hard time keeping their bikes upright. After a promising start, Matt then had a puncture, and due to a broken pump relinquished place after place. Eventually, as what was possibly the last rider went past, he was on his way again.

Lizzie Dingle also had a good start, but was chasing her shadow for first place in the women’s B category for the whole race.
There were very few technical sections in the race, one or two steep muddy sections, but nothing to cause major problems. What was really hurting riders was the length, and it was taking its toll on riders by the last lap. After chasing teammates all race Matt finally caught Tom, and both riders subsequently cramped up repeatedly, with screams (erm, shouts of pain) more at home in a horror film than a mountain marathon. Eventually, Matt took the lead in the Durham mini-race, failing to notice Tom falling off and becoming trapped in his own bike. Thank you to the guy who rescued him from that! With the finish line a stones-throw away, Matt stacked it three times in the space of 20 meters (a new record?) But still kept a lead of 90 seconds over Tom.

The big story was Lizzie winning the B category with a very respectable time.

So, the final standings:
Matt Wilson -3h43-21st
Tom Hards -3h44-23rd
Andrew Charlesworth -4h04-30th
Lizzie Dingle -4h30-38th

Nathan Edwards and Kat Broadbent rode over to Hetton Lyons Country Park today for the first of two all-comers training races run by Hetton Hawks CC. The race was run in an australian pursuit format, with the 14-16 year olds heading off first, followed by the novices and 4th cats (Kat & Nathan) a minute later and finally the ‘elites’ (the rest of them). The race was 45 minutes long, and was spiced up with primes every 3 or 4 laps. Being a training race there were no prizes or BC points on offer, but the level of competitiveness was still high.

Among the middle group the race started pretty fast up the hill on the circuit meaning that Kat was dropped after a lap. Nathan held on and managed to contest the first prime, losing by a tyres width, and then winning the second. After that, no-one in the group appeared to want to work on the front meaning that the elite group, of about 10, caught up very quickly. As they passed the pace understandably increased and after a couple of laps of shuffling Nathan found himself in the front group of 12 containing mostly ‘elite’ riders and 3 or so others.

The pace was high and there were a few attempts to get away. Nathan was feeling good so he attempted to chase a break but by the time he had chased it down the peloton had caught up. Following this effort, Nathan was almost dropped and had to chase on for a lap. He caught up with two laps to go and managed to position himself reasonably for the sprint. He did well to follow wheels and then make ground in the final sprint against those who had made less effort beforehand, coming in a respectable 4th behind a very fast youth riding for BlackHawk Bikes and two ‘elite’ riders riding for Altura.

All in all it was a tiring but enjoyable race, coming home with some pride and a lot of extra mud.