Winchester City Criterium
The Winchester criterium is a great circular circuit course through the streets of Winchester with large crowds on many parts of the course cheering on the riders. A small number of determined Sotonia riders braved the pressure of this more intense race.
The highlight of the U10 race was Izzy standing on the podium of the U10 girls race as the 3rd placed rider. Charlie (7th U10) and Lucas (8th U8) also had great rides in the U10 boys race as did Skye (9th) in the U10 girls race. Charlie and Douglas Forrester used the lessons learned in their first P&R coaching session to ride to a 6th and 9th place in the U10 boys race.
The u12 race was a high speed race where cornering and positioning skills were very important. The Winchester criterium attracts riders from further away which makes this a competitive and well fought race. George C and Sam R are still young for the U12 category but they held their own in the fast field and rode to a 19th and 23rd place. Olivia and Evelyn represented the U12 girls from our coaching group and rode to a 8th and 11th place in the U12 girls race.
Southern XC MTB, Crowhill, round 2
Ben Darnton reports: “Southern XC came to Crow Hill in the New Forest for round two on the Sunday of the hot Bank Holiday weekend. Having arrived and signed on Max and I went for a practice lap.
The lap at Checkendon for round one took about 20 minutes to complete, this lap took nearly 40 minutes at sighting lap pace. We ended up rushing to make it back to the start with only 2 mins to spare. Quite a warm up! The course was much, much more technical than round one with repeated short sharp and steep climbs.
Max got away fine at the start and when he came through the feed zone for the first time he didn’t look like he was enjoying himself, not many did though – this was a major step up! He kept at it and completed 2 laps in 1hr 12 mins, that’s double the time of his normal cross races! Youth MTB racing is hardcore!”
Newbury Summer CX, Round 4
After missing last week because of holiday, Max was surprised by a good 2nd row grid position. We’d talked in the car about riding with urgency and going hard from the start, like after he dropped his chain in round 2 and that’s what he did. He got away clean at the start which resulted in him being just in front of a small crash early in the first lap. This created a gap and Max pressed the advantage.
Riding hard for the whole race, Max kept good speed throughout the longer course and was consistently making up time in the later laps on the 3rd place U14 boy, finishing 4th. Max looked strong this week, finished with a smile on his face and rode the race exactly to plan.