Wessex CX League, round 8, Andover
Round 8 of the Miche Wessex CX League followed on from the elite UCI CX event the day before at Charlton Leisure Centre, Andover for a pick'n'mix course that literally had a bit of everything. Using some super tricky offcambers around the athletic track, we had banks, a double flight run up, multiple slippy, technical corners, a lap of the local BMX track, the biggest sandpit the league has ever seen and if all that wasn't enough, the holy grail all course designers and cross riders aspire to... a double bridge that crossed the venue.
The riders tackled the hallowed bridge early on in the race, mostly without incident as they swarmed over the scaffolding planks and it was great to see the U12s get a chance to tackle this imposing obstacle.
Sotonia struck top 5 in the first U8 race with a 4th place for Stanley Paige, Billy Dyer and Rita Howbrook 2nd U10 boy and 6th U10 girl. In the U12s, Eve Carline and Matilda Wilks finished 4th and 5th girls, Cordon Eccleston 3rd U12 boy. Top U14s were Tom Allen and Ella Ridgment, 6th and 7th. George Connell was 18th in a high quality U16 field.
There was another strong performance by Andy Gardiner in the U40 men (5th) with Tom Budden in 9th with his second race of the weekend after 10th place in a very muddy National Trophy in Paignton on Saturday. In the Junior women, Lucy Phillips was victorious and Gemma Wilks also had an awesome race to finish 3rd senior woman.
The v50 men's race saw success for Jon Hall, 7th v50, Jon Dudley (8th v60) and the final race of the day - the senior men, brought a fine ride from Phil Banks - 12th in a strong field.
Great riding everyone!
Photos: Pitchside Paul
Sotonia Zwift teams excel
This week was a great week for our Sotonia Zwift teams. Cranks (Women’s category C team) led the charge, finishing 2nd in their league, with some superb riding from Gemma Wilks and Donna Bennett who bagged over half the team’s points between the two of them. Bees (Men’s category B team) came in 3rd on the night, after spreading out the sprint points between 5 of the 6 members of the team. A true team effort. Not to be outdone, Buzz (another Men’s category B team) also came in 3rd on the night, led by the extraordinary Dan Lickman, who finished 2nd and earned sprint points on every single sprint (winning 2 of them). And Blaze, our women’s category B team, rode bravely and strongly, with just 4 riders finishing, to take them to 11th place on the night.
Things are tight in the intra-club competition. Cranks have the most points, but it’s still all to play for.
Next week we go to Japan’s Makuri Islands for a sprint-fest. 12 sprints across three laps will mean zero chance of recovery between sprints, and lots of tactics to determine the eventual winner.
If you’d like to join us, speak to an existing rider, comment below, or send us an email at info@sotonia.co.uk
Zwift Racing League Week 2 report
We're two races in to the season. Last week was a tough start in France on Roule Ma Poule: straight out into a selective hill and then a finish climb at the end. Our new female category B team (Sotonia Bullets) welcomed new riders Franie Ng and Lynsey Carpenter, while Gemma Wilks stepped up from Cranks to ride B category. Emily Lockwood excelled, picking up a nice haul of sprint points to lead her team to 11th place.
All the other Sotonia teams had reasonable nights, coming in either 6th or 7th. Some comedy riding from a Crank who shall remain nameless had her crossing the sprint line first, hands in the air to celebrate the win (probably) before she realised, oops that wasn't actually the sprint line. We've all been there (or at least, I have).
Last night was TTT night, a hard night's work on Greater London Flat. This one suited our riders: Sotonia Bullets (Emily Lockwood, Annie Dixey, Sarah Needle, Sarah Champion and Lynsey Carpenter) were the fastest B category TTT team in the BC South region. Huge congratulations.
Bees (men's B category) and Cranks (women's C category) also excelled, coming in 3rd in their divisions on the night, and now sit 4th in their respective league. Buzz (men's B category) turned in another strong performance, 5th on the night and now 6th in the league.
Next week we go to Watopia for six laps of the Two Bridges Loop. This will be a hard interval session, with a sprint and a climb on each lap, coming at something like 10 to 12 minute intervals. Bring it on! As ever, we've room for more riders. Just let us know if you want to join in, by commenting below, connecting to a rider you know, or sending an email to info@sotonia.co.uk
October segment of the month
October’s segment took riders back into the New Forest for a blast along one of Red Walters’ KoMs, the Forest Road leading up to Roger Penny Way. Strangely, nobody managed to steal it off him, but Debbie Hallett pipped Jen Dawson to the win in the female competition. Jeremy Hubbard took his first gold of the season in the male competition, with Paul Macken and Pete Coombs rounding out the podium. There were no entrants in either the male or female U16s competition, perhaps reflecting the start of the cross season.
Congratulations to the overall competition podium fillers:
Female U16: Izzy Hall (gold)
Female allcomers: Debbie Hallett (gold); Jennifer Dawson (silver); Issy Hall (bronze)
Male U16: George Connell (gold); Corbin Gregson (silver)
Male allcomers: Andy Gardiner (gold); Paul Macken (silver); Martin Nobbs (bronze)
Full results are viewable here.
The competition will take a breather over the winter, ready to return in April 2023.
Sotonia Zwift teams – end of round 1 report
The final race of the round was on Watopia’s Eastern Eight, and was the longest race of the season. Ride of the night was by the whole of the Bees (male B category) team, who had a do or die plan to try to split the race and climb into 2nd place to gain automatic promotion. Some incredibly brave TTTing split the pack, but couldn’t establish a gap. A brave brave ride was poorly rewarded with 5th on the night – but a place on the podium in 3rd overall for the round.
Sotonia Cranks (women’s C category) put in a typically strong all round performance, finishing 5th on the night and 4th overall in the round.
Sotonia Buzz (mixed B category team) came in 13th on the night and 12th overall. They deserve special credit for their mixed status – it’s tough to compete as a mixed team in a competition dominated by male riders.
We need YOU!
So next season we want to try to run a women’s B team and two male B teams. We are right on the edge of having enough riders to do this, but we could do with a couple more B cat men and a couple more B cat women. If you’re Zwift curious, just comment below to express an interest, or talk to any of our Zwift riders. Next round starts November 8.
Wessex CX League, round 6, Southampton
The rain and mud held off for another day at our home round of the Miche Wessex Cyclocross league. We saw close fought racing on a tried and tested track that our devilish designers modified, tweaked and extended to include more grassy banks than the square mile. Judging by the feedback from competitors and spectators, it was the best Sports centre course in many a year - a fast, flowing and technical course featuring a new wooded section (thanks to Jason and his chainsaw) and the deceptively tricky offcamber section.
With close to 500 entrants, 63 Sotonia riders took part across the age categories and it was extremely pleasing to see so many under 10s (many participating for the first time) in the opening race, itself attracting a field of 60+ youngsters. Bringing top 5s for Billy, Freddie and Rita. The U12s saw our first win of the day for Matilda, closely followed by Eve and Jaya (2nd and 5th). Closest duel of the day went to Tom Allen and Noah Smith (GKR Racing), the duo inseparable until the final corner when Tom sprinted clear to take a brilliant first U14 win, Tom Wilks also scored an impressive 3rd as a first year in the category. In the U16s, Izzy Hall and George Connell both finished 5th. Lucy Phillips was also 2nd in the Junior women.
For the senior races, our v40 men continued to dominate the team age classification - Andy Gardiner, Tom Budden, Phil Wilks all in the top 10 (3rd, 4th and 8th). Gemma Wilks was our top finisher in the women's race. In the v50 men, Jon Hall was back in action with a very good 6th place, Jon Dudley making the third step on the v60 podium. Phil Banks our sole senior men rider, rounded off the day, with 14th place in a strong field.
Last but very definitely not least, big thanks to the band of nearly thirty Sotonia helpers who helped set up and take down the course, marshal and run the event so smoothly.
Photos: Pitchside Paul
Wessex CX League, round 2, Droxford
It was the return of Droxford and the fearsome Hecklers Hill this weekend for the rescheduled round 2 of the Miche Wessex Cyclocross league in biblical or sunny conditions, depending on what time you raced. Great course and event from the Fareham Wheelers team!
Amazing photos as usual by Pitchside Paul
Zwift Racing League Week 5 report
This week was a shorter race in Watopia for Sotonia’s Zwift teams. For Bees (men's B category team), Jerome Bakker was rider of the night, stepping in at late notice to ride strongly and earn his cat up (he’d been riding as a C in a cat B team but is now officially a Bee!).
A strong overall performance in GC suffered a little bit for lack of prime points (although James Cooper made good use of a newly renovated turbo power pack to avoid any signal dropouts and earn our only prime points). Bees finished 5th on the night but slipped to 3rd in the table. It’ll be a tough one next week to finish in the coveted 2nd spot overall.
Buzz (mixed B category) again performed strongly as a mixed team riding in a dominantly male competition. Dan Lickman led the team in on a tough night, but the rider of the night award was earned by Annie Dixey, who stepped in at late notice after earlier riding 30 miles outdoors. They now sit 12th in their league but have the realistic possibility of climbing at least two places higher with a strong final race.
Cranks (women's C cat) missed Hannah Budden who ended her streak of successive top 10 places, but handed on the mantle of team leader to Donna Bennett, who came in 7th and earned a few prime points along the way.
Next week is the final race of the round, and in a new arrangement will have different races for different categories. B cat will race on Watopia’s Eastern Eight while C cat take on Downtown Titans.
There’s honour to be fought for to earn the “Sotonia team of the round” plaudits: Bees sit on 86 league points, while Cranks are just one point behind on 85.
Then we have a few weeks off before the new season starts on November 8th. We are likely to rebalance the teams, so if you’re interested in starting racing with us, do let us know. As last week, we’re particularly interested in male A category riders, male or female B category riders and female D category riders. Come join us.
Zwift Racing League Week 4 report
Are we only four weeks in? It feels like we are well settled in by now. This week we emulated the famous Tour de France finish on the cobbles of Champs Elysees. Thank goodness none of us had to do the full TdF 8 laps: “just” six for the Bs and 5 for the Cs.
Sotonia Buzz (mixed B category) continued their strengthening and had their strongest points finish; three of their riders delivered what look like their season best 1 minute power numbers. Congrats Dan Lickman, Joffrey Carlier and Dan Stephens. Commiserations to Annie Dixey on the signal loss – the virtual “chain drop”. Proper all round performance, with Jez Hart and Sonja Gailer earning the points to lift their team two positions higher overall. They now sit 12th in their league.
Sotonia Bees (men’s B category) are still in awe of an extraordinary last lap solo breakaway by Evan Jardine-Skinner that saw him hold off a chasing pack to win the last lap sprint segment. And still have enough in him to stay in the pack for a chase to the line. Magnificent stuff, leading the team to a 5th place finish on the night and holding 2nd in their league overall.
Sotonia Cranks (women’s C category) welcomed Gemma Wilks into the team; she promptly rode her way into 5th place, with Hannah Budden continuing her amazing run of top 10 finishes each race. Vikki Sutcliffe took a well earned week off – but we’re not sure that “drinking cocktails in Mexico” is exactly what is meant by a “recovery week”. They came in 4th on the night and now sit 3rd in their league. I’m sure they claim bragging rights for having two more total points than Bees (408 vs 406) while Bees will want to claim the edge for having more league points (70 vs 69).
Next week we’re riding in Watopia, with a race designed to test VO2 (short climb), sprint and threshold power (longer power). One for the all rounders.
The new season starts on 8 November. We particularly want female category D riders and male category A riders. If you want to join in, just comment below, talk to any of the team or contact us in any other way you’d like.
September segment of the month
Only 8 Sotonians ventured out East to this month’s segment on Beacon Hill. We welcomed James Peckham to the competition, a new entrant straight in at number 1, with Paul Macken and Andy Gardiner hard on his heels. In the women’s section, Jen Dawson was the fastest woman, with Debbie Hallet chasing her up the hill.
Overall, Jen has a one point advantage over Debbie in the women’s competition with Izzy Hall rounding out the podium. Andy Gardiner still heads up the men’s competition; this looks like an unassailable advantage over Paul Macken (and Richard Johnson in third), but who knows what the final segment in October will bring?
Actually, we do know what October will bring. Something closer to hand, in the New Forest. Red Walters currently has the KoM onFlat on Forest Road; can anyone earn it off him and win the final segment of the month for this year?
https://www.strava.com/segments/6544416
Full results can be seen here.
