Extreme racers combine to clinch cyclo-cross win

FERGUS MUIR

Last updated: 09/12/2009 11:57:00

Individual wins eluded them, but Extreme Sports Therapy brought back the team prize from the combined Eastern and South-Eastern Regional Championship cyclo-cross races at Ipswich.

EST is a Norwich-based outfit that combines the talents of both up-and-coming and experienced racing cyclists with the technical input of Streetlife Cycles. The underlying purpose is to provide hands-on experience for sponsor City College Norwich's sports therapy students, not just in massage, but in the practical and logistical problems of working with sportsmen in the unpredictable English climate.

It was the relatively inexperienced EST riders who were the stars at Ipswich, Michael Raven taking third in the senior championship and Josh Hannan second in the youth race.

Experts Shaun Aldous and Ben Nicholson were sixth and 20th in the senior race.

Michael Raven's ride, as the best Eastern Region senior, brought the Ross Monaghan Cup - in memory of the teenage tandem rider who died in an accident at Diss - back to Norfolk. Senior winner was Jamie Newall (VC Meudon), who won by a country mile.

Raven and 2008 champion Darren Barclay were in contention for second place. Under pressure, Raven mistook the course and had to retrace. Nevertheless the Coltishall rider got right back up to Barclay, but lost out in the sprint.

Hannan's race was the long-awaited head-to-head between the fit Norwich lad and experienced Hugo Robinson, of Ipswich Bicycle club. The course at Foxhall Stadium mixed slippery off-camber woodland tracks with long grass sections exposed to the wind, and Robinson made good use of his skills on those tracks to win by 43 seconds.

In an inspired ride, Ian Newby (Diss & District) took third place in the 40-49 veterans. Phil Buick (Thetford MTB) was fifth in the 50-plus, with daughter Anna second in the women's category. Paul Ashby (Fat Birds CC) won the four-hour MTB enduro for riders over 40 at Santon Downham in Thetford Forest, keeping going when younger rivals fell by the wayside.

Competitors in this the second round of the Thetford MTB Winter Series lined up in the rain, but before the “off” the rain stopped and, as blue skies appeared the course, north of the Little Ouse river, dried. Thetford MTB's George Budd won the two-hour 18-39 race, with Glenn Stanford (Extreme Sports Therapy), back from illness, taking third and James Ashby (Fat Birds) fourth.

Stanford's brother, Tom, followed up his dive at the Hempton cyclo-cross with a heavier crash in one of the “bombholes”.

• Entries for the CC Breckland New Year's Day 10 close on December 12. Contact Steve Lake on 01362 692999.

   

• RESULTS

  East/South East Championships and EADT League round 10, Foxhall

  Seniors - 1 Jamie Newall (VC Meudon) 8 laps in 59:33; 2 Darren Barclay (Arctic Premier RT) +1:22; 3 Michael Raven (Extreme Sports Therapy) +1:24; 4 Nathan Miller (Interbike) +1:49; 5 Andrew Nichols (Cambridge University CC) +2:03; 6 Shaun Aldous (Extreme Sports Therapy) +2:30; 7 Daniel Duguid (Sigma Sport) +3:11; 8 Greg Simcock (XRT Elmy cycles) +3:34; 9 David Nichols (Arctic Premier RT) +4:39; 10 Ben Spurrier (Team Mule Bar) +4:57; 13 Robert Hunt (API-Metrow) +6:16; 14 Richard Dunnett (Diss CC) +6:25; CC) +7:39; 20 Ben Nicholson (Extreme Sports Therapy) +1 lap +0:28; 21 Martyn Dunnett (Diss CC) +1 lap +0:57.

  Veterans - 40-49: 1 Kevin Knox (Dulwich Paragon CC) 6 laps in 47:43; 2 Gavin Rumbles (CC Luton) +0:27; 3 Ian Newby (Diss CC) +0:48; 15 Trevor Holmes (Diss CC) +4:07;23 Patrick Stokes +1 lap. 50-plus: 1 Douglas Fox (Crawley Wheelers) 6 laps in 50:33; 2 Tim Butler (Ipswich Bicycle Club) +0:28; 3 Nick Welsh (GS Invicta) +1:18; 4 Tony Wilkins (Team Endura) +1:55; 5 Philip Buick (Thetford MTB Racing) +1 lap.

  Youth - 1 Hugo Robinson (Ipswich Bicycle Club) 4 laps in 30:48; 2 Josh Hannan (Extreme Sports Therapy) +0:43; 3 Harry Franklin (VCL) +1:02.