Results: ME Awareness 10 mile TT - 14.5.15
| Position | Name | Club | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Hall | Sotonia CC | 24.25 |
| 2 | James Peckham | Sotonia CC | 24.27 |
| 3 | Jahan Hunter | Sotonia CC | 24.29 |
| 4 | Phil Connell | Sotonia CC | 24.41 |
| 5 | Adrian Jenkins | GA Cycles | 24.55 |
| 6 | Colin Yeates | Sotonia CC | 25.10 |
| 7 | Rob Tomlinson | Sotonia CC | 26.15 |
| 8 | Ted Knowlton | Sotonia CC | 27.49 |
| 9 | Ian Wall | Sotonia CC | 28.24 |
| 10 | Anya Lancaster | New Forest CC | 29.29 |
| 11 | Simon Hall | Andover Wheelers | 30.09 |
| 12 | Laura Bailey | Hargroves CC | 30.14 |
| 13 | Martin Ward | Sotonia CC | 30.35 |
| 14 | Sarah Hickman | C&T | 32.44 |
| 15 | Mary Corbett | Sotonia CC | 36.35 |
Marshalls and timekeepers
Mark Compton
Martin Napier
Dave Crocker
Dave Davenport
Julian Wherrett
Peter Baker
Stuart Martingale
Wendy Knowlton
Ian Stewart
Gawain Young
Norman Harvey
Ben Scott-Munden in the points again at Thruxton Circuit
Ben Scott-Munden continued his strong start to the year with a fine 9th place in the 3rd cat race on tuesday evening for the Behind The Bikeshed Summer Series at Thruxton race circuit. Following on from a brilliant 3rd place at the Castle Coombe Spring Classic in April in a field of almost 200 riders.
It was very windy evening at Thruxton. So windy, the races were almost cancelled. The 3/4 race was splitting up from the start in the tough conditions and by the end, there were several groups of riders. Ben took 9th in the bunch sprint after a break of two stayed away to the finish.
In the E1/2 race, Will Weynberg finished 16th in the bunch after another good showing and valuable racing experience at a higher level.
Bumper crowd for May Family Fun Ride
The May bank Holiday saved its best weather for monday and just as well because it attracted a whopping 19 kids and their families to this month's Family Fun Ride - welcome to all our newcomers from Nomansland and other areas. We opted for one big group to tackle the shorter six mile loop of forest trails around Stockley, followed by a skills coaching session with Phil and me and with a little help from Haribo, the kids all did really, really well. Thanks to everyone who came and shared such a fun day with us.
See you all next month!
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Sandie Radford Road Race goes wild
Strong winds and sunshine for the 2015 edition of Glenn Longland’s Sandie Radford Memorial Road Race yesterday saw four Sotonia riders line up in the field of 60+ riders including local boy Phil Wilks, Rich Stephens, Tim Cooke and Richard Burch.
It was a sporting course based around Nomansland of 35 miles, which may sound short but featured barely any flat and four laps, the last two going up the notoriously steep Pipers Waite climb to the finish.
The race itself had en eventful start with a group of deer leaping across the road taking out Ed Rowe (wearing number 13) in the process. This part of the forest seems to have more than its fair share of road going wildlife (it was cows last year). Luckily there were no real injuries to riders or deer but it did split the bunch and Tim was left to ride alone having checked all were ok.
There was one break of note on lap two of a couple of riders but they soon tired in the strong wind. Phil and Rich Stephens looked comfortable in the main bunch and on the final ascent to the finish, both looked to have secured impressive top 20 positions (13th for Phil). In Rich's case, a blowout on the climb forced him to ride the last steep section on a flat tyre! Brook Elgie, riding for Rock'n'Road was top club member, finishing a fine 7th.
Ride of the day goes to sixteen year old Charlie Cooper, an accomplished junior cyclocross rider who came second for Eden Veranda in his first ever road race.
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[vimeo height="height" width="WIDTH"]https://vimeo.com/125349595[/vimeo]
[vimeo height="height" width="WIDTH"]https://vimeo.com/125385716[/vimeo]
Sotonia Family Fun Ride returns to the Forest
The popular Sotonia family fun ride returned this weekend for 2015. Held on New Forest trails, nine keen youngsters and their parents joined us on a sunny day for a choice of 5 of 12 mile rides in beautiful Denny Wood near Brockenhurst. The ride was followed by an enthusiastically received skills session held by one of our new youth coaches - Phil Connell. It was also great to see club stalwart, Stuart Martingale back on his bike after his injury last year.
The kids showed some real bike handling skills for our slow bike races and balance practice, especially young Tom - our "Cyclist of the Day", aged just four years old!
Next family ride will be mid May. We're also planning regular coaching sessions in Southampton over the Summer - keep an eye on the website for details.
Please drop us an email if you want to learn more about our youth coaching opportunities!
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Behind the Bike Shed Spring Classic, 12.4.15 - Report
It was the first race at Thruxton of the 2015 last sunday and held in super windy conditions (even for Thruxton). The 4th cat race had a brilliant turnout of seven Sotonia riders entered in a big field of 100 riders. Rob Tomlinson put the hurt on early and punished everyone from the start, which resulted in a quite few riders going out the back.
Unsurprisingly, nobody wanted to do much work down the back straight into the headwind and the main bunch stayed together for the duration with Tom Budden taking some big turns on the front in his first road race and showing great positional awareness, never far from the sharp end of things.
Tim Cooke and Mark Edwards were unlucky to get separated behind a split on the uphill back stretch. They made a group of five that worked together to the end.
There was a crash on the last lap chicane, which Tom was in front of and Chris Moody just missed but it held up Paul Ransom's dash for the line. Tom finished 10th, with Chris Moody 16th and Paul Ransom 19th - great results in the conditions and with such a big field.
In the 3rd cat race, we had Ben Scott-Munden and Edward Wu. Ben also got caught out by the conditions, but Edward Wu managed to stay in touch till the last lap. Thanks to everyone who came to watch and support the team!
[youtube height="380" width="620"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU-jWU4eoAk[/youtube]
Coaching Session Report - 28 March 2014
It was the second session of rider coaching on Sunday for new coaches Phil and Jez as they concentrated on cornering skills. We had six riders taking up the challenge, with two new faces - Richard Woods and super keen thirteen year old, Kit joining the gang. Lots of growing confidence in cornering techniques and competitive spirit - Katherine in particular looked very assured by the end of the session. Well done everyone! Session number three is in two weeks on Saturday April 11th (the University is closed for Easter). Hope to see a few more of you then!
Also coming up this month is the return of our monthly Family Fun Ride in the New Forest on Sunday April 12th
Spring Hill Climb Results, 22 March 2015
| Position | Name | Club | Category (Sotonia Points) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Lockwood | Southampton Uni RC | 2.10 | |
| 2 | Brook Elgie | Sotonia CC | Senior | 2.14 |
| 3 | Will Weynberg | Sotonia CC | Senior | 2.15 |
| 4 | Jahan Hunter | Sotonia CC | Senior | 2.17 |
| 5 | James Peckham | Sotonia CC | Senior | 2.18 |
| 6 | Dan Edwards | Sotonia CC | Senior | 2.18 |
| 7 | Jonathan Hall | Sotonia CC | Veteran 40-59 | 2.19 |
| 8 | Cameron Taylor | Sheffield Uni CC | 2.19 | |
| 9 | Josh Oldfield | Southampton Uni RC | 2.26 | |
| 10 | Harry Chamberlain | Southampton Uni RC | 2.30 | |
| 11 | Sean Holehouse | Sotonia CC | Veteran 40-59 | 2.34 |
| 12 | Dave Davenport | Sotonia CC | Veteran 40-59 | 2.34 |
| 13 | Tm Cooke | Sotonia CC | Veteran 40-59 | 2.38 |
| 14 | Jelmer Cnossen | Sotonia CC | Senior | 2.39 |
| 15 | Gawain Young | Sotonia CC | Veteran 40-59 | 2.40 |
| 16 | Richard Burch | Sotonia CC | Veteran 40-59 | 2.41 |
| 17 | Ed Rowe | Sotonia CC | Junior | 2.50 |
| 18 | Eli Chen | Southampton Uni RC | 2.57 | |
| 19 | Nick Malbon | Sotonia CC | Veteran 40-59 | 2.58 |
| 20 | Ben Watkinson | Southampton Uni RC | 3.01 | |
| 21 | Jon Legg | Sotonia CC | Senior | 3.01 |
| 22 | Graham Vail | Sotonia CC | Veteran 40-59 | 3.03 |
| 23 | Paul Ransom | Sotonia CC | Junior | 3.14 |
Sotonia Time Trials are organised by Club members – this event could not have taken place without:
Ted Knowlton (Organiser)
Dave Crocker (Timekeeper)
Martin Napier (Timekeeper)
Ian Stewart (Timekeeper)
Wendy Knowlton
Rob Tomlinson
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Event video: https://youtu.be/vnAf6lR6_hU
Ludgershall Winter Series Round 8, 21 Feb
The winter series at the Ludgershall road race circuit reached round eight this Sunday with a good turn out of three Sotonia riders in the 4th cat race. Separated into odds and evens of around 20 riders each because of the large field, the first race saw Tim Cooke in his second outing (having finished a fine 4th place in his first ever race the previous week) and fast improving youngster, Edward Rowe lining up. Tim was again in the top ten with 7th place. Ed also had an ideal position going round the penultimate corner of the last lap in tenth place when the rider in front of him made an error, forcing Ed off the track - luckily he managed to stay upright but was left off the back of the peloton.
In race two, Edward Wu was looking to continue his great start to the season, having finished second in the previous week. Ed raced intelligently and sat in the pack during the race, conserving his energy for the final sprint. There was only one attempted breakaway which was brought back by the bunch ten minutes into the race and the pace inevitably picked up in the last two laps. Ed made sure he was in the top six, coming out of the last bend third wheel and sprinting to a fantastic victory!
The results continue Sotonia's great start to the early season and put us up to 5th in the team rankings for the Southern region.
If you are looking to start racing or already race and would like to know more, we would love to hear from you.
Find out more here or drop Jez Hart an email
Wessex League Cyclocross Round 14 Army Cycling, 1 Feb
With a month's gap between the last two rounds of this year's Wessex League cyclocross series, the last round proved to have lost none of the popularity for cyclocross with another big turnout at an impressive new venue - Tedworth House in Tidworth organised by the Army Cycling Union.
It's official, the Wessex CX V50 league is the hardest league in the country (and arguably the world as well actually). John Phillips and Martin Ward were lined up in the V50 race against the UCI Masters V50-54 world champion (Philip Roach) and the UCI Masters V60-64 world champion (Dave McMullen). Fortunately, Steve Davies, the UCI Masters V55-V59 world champion was otherwise engaged (he normally rides Wessex CX) otherwise it would have been the full set! Well, we did our best against such formidable opposition and thoroughly enjoyed our race over a new flat, fast parkland course that gave great views to spectators, wrapped up against the biting north wind.
Featuring a fast tarmac start leading to twisting grassy turns around the trees that lined the sports fields, bankings were used to good effect to break up momentum. The firm conditions were then interrupted by a short, sticky mud section and a set of boards that would have benefitted from a ladder to negotiate. Riders then rode into a biting headwind to a long set of stone steps to climb the small hill and the finish line.
In the world-champless V40 race, Simon Guard (33rd) and Phil Connell (40th) enjoyed their customary tussle with Simon just coming out on top this time round. In the Seniors race, Sotonia had a great turnout with Tom Budden, Phil Wilks, Darren Sell and new team member David Baxter flying the flag, with placings of 11th, 19th, 30th and 32nd respectively. Dave Crocker and Jez Hart again provided us all with great vocal support and pit duties. All in all, a great end to the season, with much celebratory sausage rolls and banana drizzle cake scoffed.
It's been a great year of cross for Sotonia, with 19 club members who rode for us across all categories, to what will probably be our highest team finish for many years. Well done everyone and roll on next season!
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