Durham University Cycling Club

The first week of summer term has seen Durham Uni – AURA Cycles riders competing both locally and nationally, with the BUCS 25 Championships in Cambridge marking an end to the BUCS time trial series and a fitting climax to an excellent week of racing.

Will Haynes was the sole Durham representative at the TLI Croft series on Tuesday night. Despite there not being any BC points up for grabs, an impressive field of 90 riders still turned up to test their legs in this popular summer series, including local stars such as Team Raleigh’s Matt Kipling. Run as a handicapped race, Will was in the scratch group, with 2 further groups up the road to chase down. Not wanting to risk getting caught up in the large bunch, Haynes immediately attacked the peloton when the junction was made between the scratch group and the now combined first and second groups. A further 3 riders joined the head of the race, however this was soon whittled down to 2 as the pressure was applied up front. An impressive ride by Will and his breakaway companion Michael Dales (Velo29) saw the duo sprint for the victory, with Will marginally missing out on the win to take a brilliant 2^nd place.

Haynes was again in action on Thursday night, this time joined by teammate Andy Miles at the 2^nd round of the TLI Newburn Riverside Criteriums. On a short, fast course around the local business park, the race was run in the form of a 40 lap points race, with 8 sprints in total being contested every 5 laps. From the off the Durham riders were active at the head of the race, taking turns to get in the early moves. On lap 11, after the 2^nd sprint, a break did eventually stick, with Haynes being joined by 3 other riders. This proved to be the decisive move and the group, eventually whittled down to 2 stayed away to contest the remaining sprints. In an impressive display of domination, Haynes comfortably mopped up all but one of the remaining sprints to stick 39 points on the board, 22 more than Sports Cover’s Collin Humphrey in 2^nd place. Once the break was established, Miles had a fairly straightforward race controlling proceedings at the head of the bunch, eventually finishing 8^th.

After the recent successes at the BUCS TTT and 10 Champs, Saturday marked the return to the crazy world of time trialling, with bikes and bodies once again modified to trim away the seconds and find those extra watts at the 25 Championships. Representing Durham Uni – AURA Cycles were Rich Abraham, Alex Clayton, Andy Miles and Will Haynes, with Kat Broadbent flying the flag in the woman’s event. A reasonably tough course was made tougher by a heaving north-easterly wind funnelling down the lumpy finishing straight, a world away from the speedy course used last year in Oxford. Riders covered 2 laps of a 12 ½ mile triangular circuit, with a fast wind-assisted straight followed by a nasty cross wind stretch before the treacherous run-in to the finish. First off was Kat, who recorded a 1.16.29 to finish in 16^th place amongst a strong field dominated by Cambridge riders. Rich then posted a respectable 1.03.34 to come home in 47^th before Will (16^th), Alex (19^th) and Andy (20^th) all had good rides to come home in under the hour. Haynes recorded an excellent 57.47, whilst for the second week running Clayton finished a handful of seconds ahead of Miles with times of 58.38 and 58.57 respectively. As a team this put Durham in a pleasing 5^th place behind Birmingham, Oxford and two strong Cambridge teams.

This week sees another busy racing schedule with Durham riders competing at Croft on Tuesday, Newburn/Prissick on Thursday then a double header at the weekend with Hetton on Saturday and the Ballantyne Trophy Road Race on Sunday. Let’s hope for another fruitful week, race reports to follow next weekend…

The final round of the BUCS time trial series ended on a high for the Durham Women. Mathilde did another astonishingly fast time: 57:20 to take Silver in a very competitive Women’s field. Hannah picked up a place from last week to come 5^th, and together with Mathilde land the Team Gold for the second week running.

The Men had a slightly less than successful event. Missing a number of fast riders their best placing was Alex’s 23^rd.  Sadly he had been on for another top 10 appearance before returning to his Menchov ways of last year and stacking it at the turn…Photo to come shortly…

The lack of points from the Men, and Cambridge’s excellent performance, means we now slip back into 2^nd place in the BUCS cycling league table. However, considering we’ve still accumulated an impressive total of ~145 points this year, certainly something the club can be proud of.

Photos

Results below

WOMEN

Claire Galloway Oxford University 57:02
Mathilde Matthijsse Durham University 57:22
Elisabeth Brama University of Sussex 58:59
Lucy Gossage Cambridge University 1:02:48
Hannah Read Durham University 1:03:38
Claire Hansell Warwick University 1:03:43
Sophie Pooley Oxford University 1:06:13
Jenny Brown Cambridge University 1:08:30
Hayley Simmonds Cambridge University 1:08:59
Lousia Blamires Birmingham University 1:10:25
Katharine Barker Cambridge University 1:12:32
Claire Petley Southampton University 1:17:16
Natascha Rodd Oxford University 1:20:27
Claire Kane Oxford University 1:51:31

MEN

Tom Morris Cambridge University 52:07
James Stephenson Oxofrd University 52:13
Luke Clarke Loughborough University 52:17
James Hawkins Cambridge University 52:17
Sebastian Pancratz Oxford University 52:45
Tim Wallis Southhampton University 52:49
Henry King Leeds University 53:16
Jesse Elzinga Oxford University 53:55
Martin Kumm Bournemouth University 54:03
Xavier Disley Birmingham University 54:08
Michael Dales Leeds University 54:11
Dan Ahearn Cambridge University 54:30
Toby Weatherhall Cambridge University 54:53
Francis Field Nottingham University 55:17
Jacob Clark Cambridge University 55:30
Toby Parnell Cambridge University 55:41
Ewan Tarrant Nottingham University 55:42
Tom Knowiton Southhampton University 55:52
Matt Passenger Loughborough University 55:52
Tim Easter Nottingham University 56:02
Jerry Zak Cambridge University 56:20
Neil Dallaway Birmingham University 56:36
Alex Clayton Durham University 56:37
Mark Holt Cambridge University 56:52
George Cranmend Southhampton University 56:55
Maximilien Von Berg Essex University 57:05
Simon James Oxford University 57:07
Luke Dunbar UWE 57:31
Rob Sherwood Warwick University 57:52
Mark Brown Birmingham University 57:55
Stephen Hill Oxford University 58:08
Till Wagner Cambridge University 58:46
Lourne Empson Bournemouth University 58:47
Sean Ledger Oxford University 59:02
Ed Cegmino Southhampton University 59:06
Paul Bachini Warwick University 59:08
Chris Newman UWE 59:11
Craig Wallduck Bristol University 1:00:10
Stuart McCombie Loughborough University 1:00:20
Ed Garrett Durham University 1:00:46
Simon Abram Oxford University 1:01:44
James Dixon Cambridge University 1:02:17
Henry Fletcher Cambridge University 1:02:21
Hugh Knudson Bristol University 1:02:25
Jonathan Williamson Bristol University 1:02:47
John Cant Oxford University 1:03:20
David Evans Warwick University 1:03:20
Nathan Edwards Durham University 1:03:26
Matthew Wilson Durham University 1:04:40
James Schofield Oxford University 1:05:16
Lewis Morton Durham University 1:06:04
Nick Constantine Durham University 1:06:25
Ben Watson Oxford Brookes 1:07:11

DUCC were busy over easter, here’s some of what we got up to.

Time Trials

Easter meant the first of the ‘flat’ BUCS time-trials, the 3up Team TT and the 10 mile TT. Confidence was high as we went into the events with the Women especially expected to medal. And they did not disappoint, a silver in the 3up, followed by team and individual gold with a storming ride by Mathilde Matthijsse in the 10mile. The men managed a silver in the 3up (missing out on gold by 3 seconds!) and a team record individual 10th for Alex Clayton and team 7th in the 10mile. Both events represented impressive points hauls for DUCC with the 10 being a record of 39, putting us at the top of the BUCS Cycling table with just 2 events left. Full Reports: BUCS 3up TTT BUCS 10 TT

Two weeks earlier Mathilde set one of the fastest ever women’s 10 mile TT times with a 21:43 at the Lancashire RC 10.

Nathan Edwards began the break with a good showing in the Welwyn Hilly 26 mile TT, a major improvement on previous time trial results.

Crits

Alex and Nathan also went to Hog Hill to race in the San Fairy Ann Crits, Alex unfortunately punctured, but Nathan gained 5th and his third cat license. Full Report.

MTB

Tom Hards had the first round of the CRC MTB Marathon Series, 75k of dry and dusty trails through the Cambrian Mountains. Big climbs, big views and a big crowd of nearly 1000 riders made for a fantastic atmosphere and epic day. Finishing in the top 100 of those who made the full distance and improving on last year by 15 minutes was pretty satisfying and bodes well for the rest of the season.

March saw the first round of the new Nutcracker MTB series. Being a BC points qualifying series, the turnout was good, with around 200 competitors in various categories. There were three races in total:

Race 1- Youths (U16), Fun (Go-MTB – non ranking)

Race 2- Experts, Elites

Race 3- Juniors (17-18), Senior Sports (19+), Masters (30+), Veterans (40+)/Grand Veterans (50+)

The only Durham rider present was Matt Wilson, in the senior sports category. He came in 7^th. Two days of rain and a morning of sunshine resulted in a very muddy course, making what would normally have been a fast course painfully slow in places.  Hopefully the weather will be better for the next few races, and with the promise of some hills next time future rounds look ‘enjoyable’.