Be careful what you wish for they say, well mud lovers got a bit more than they bargained for at round 7 of the Miche Wessex CX league in a return to the New Forest Care Outdoor learning centre, near Romsey.
It was time for mud, a LOT of mud. Enough of the brown stuff in fact to make it a favourite for the runners as heavy rain in the days before gave us a super heavy course that cut up in the early races as the grass soon disappeared in the soup-like ground conditions. Kudos to hosts VC Venta who battled rain and gale force winds to set up and repair storm damage that even managed to blow the timing tent away!
Special mention for our growing women’s team, many of whom are new to cyclocross this year and are handling some tough and technical courses brilliantly. Of our five riders, Gemma Wilks was top senior woman finisher in 6th place. In the v40 men, Tom Budden went one better than last week, storming to second place.
By the afternoon, the v50 men’s race was greeted with driving sideways hail as Jon Hall was our top finisher in 7th, riders now forced to run the majority of the course. Finally, in the senior men’s race Chairman Phil Wilks secured his best result of the season and a series leaders jersey is heading his way!