The Sandie Radford Road Race was once again held on the Woodfalls circuit in the New Forest last weekend. With three large laps and just one final blast up the steep Pipers Wait climb in Nomansland in this years edition to the finish of the 40 mile race and there was some confident riding from the 10 Sotonia racers taking up the challenge.
Sotonia riders were in the mix throughout the race with James Peckham and Ed Slot active on the front of the bunch and a valiant breakaway effort by Andy McKay at mid point in the race as he bridged over to form a short lived three-man-break with Matt Downie (Eden Veranda) and James Hywel-Davies (Gillingham & District Wheelers).
Nothing stayed away though and it all came down to the final climb with Phil Godfrey and Ben Scott-Munden doing a great job of stretching out the group as they rode to put Ed Slot in position for the last ramp to the line. Ed put in a big dig and was just pipped to third spot on the line by James Horton (Cannondale) to take fourth behind winner, Calum Croft (Primera-TeamJobs). Just behind in 6th place was James Peckham, followed by Phil Wilks (13th) and Jonathan Hall (16th – and winner of his age group) giving Sotonia an excellent four riders in the top 20 of a high quality field.
Ed Slot powers his way to fourth place.
190bpm heartrate = Automatic tongue deployment for Phil Wilks
