Race Report:
Chris Courage BJW – 11th
Lizzy Campbell BJW – 1st Lady
A sunny afternoon saw some 67 Riders take to the start, the womans race containing Lizzy Campbell was given a 3min headstart and off they went. Only a few mins in and a break of two, BJW Chris Courage and of Ian Taylor Leicester CC, went clear but never had more than 1min advantage. Whilst the two were safe off the front a stray deer ran across the road taking down a number of riders one being BJW Bob Richarson. Bob managed to walk away with only a few bruises. The chasing peloton slowly closed down the escapees and just after the turn around point at Redlynch, predictibly a counter attack went containing 3 riders but the peloton kept them in sight until the tight LH at Brook when a number of riders took off bridging across the gap. The now 7 riders stayed away until the 2nd time at Redlynch where the active peloton quickly ate into their gap. The side winds heading down past Stoney Cross caused a number of Echelons to form slowly shelling riders out the back. With the climb of Pipers Waite approaching positioning was key, the bumpy LH then a narrow twisty lane directed us to the bottom of the climb. The attack came and a group of 6 went clear over the top containing Chris Courage (BJW), Andrew Syme (Primera) , Rowan Horner (VC ST RAPHAEL/WAITES CONTRACTS), Brook Elgie (rock and road), Charlie Cooper (Eden Verander) and that looked like the race difining move. A group of riders clawed there way back on and the final ascent of Pipers Waite saw some 12 riders fire themselfs at the finish. Primera rider Andrew Syme took a convincing win kicking 100m from the line in a carbon copy attack to last years race.
Lizzy Campbell took 1st Lady and Le Latern Rouge and Mike Courage was awarded with 1st Over 60!
Bob Richardson:
After the first couple of miles the bunch had just slowed up and all of a sudden I saw two deer leap out of a wood from the left, a couple of riders swerved, one guy was hit and came off, I ran into him and a couple of others came off as well. I was winded in the fall and by the time I’d recovered and sorted myself out it was game over. One guy was bit worse off than the rest of us and had to be paramedic’d. Fortunately the bike was OK so I just rode back to Nomansland
Bruised and sore and no doubt worse tomorrow morning but OK. Bike’s fine. It had a soft landing – on me
Carl Silver:
For the first race of the year after a inconstant winter I was aiming to stay hidden in the bunch until the first time up the climb then see how the legs were. Other than a couple of dear running in to the back of the bunch, the first couple of laps were quite uneventful. The race split the first time up the climb, and I was just wrong side of the a group of about 10 that got away on the climb and the tailwind section at the top. I had to work hard to get back to that group and by the bottom of the final lap it was back to a reasonable size group. I faded a bit on the last climb, but was happy to finish in what was left of the front group. So lots of work required, but happy with the result in a great local race in the sun.
Chris Courage:
My goal was to make the attritional split which I did but I paid the price for a few early attacks which animated the race and the last ascent of Pipers Waite was a crawl but happy with a 11th ish
Mike Courage:
Not my thing and didnt get in the thick of the action
Lizzy Campbell:
Had a nice ride around enjoyed the race and the friendliness of it.
Syme again at Sandie Radford! Report by Eamonn Dean
Andrew Syme (Primera-Sport.com) won the 35 mile Sandie Radford Memorial on a sunny, windy afternoon at Nomansland in the New Forest. The twenty one year old displayed a confident maturity to win the race for the second year running. Never putting his nose into the wind, never responding to the constant attacks, never panicking when gaps opened, Syme only hit the front on the steepest part of the twice-climbed Pipers Waite Hill, twenty yards from the line. A sore knee had kept him off the bike during the week but there was no sign of the injury as he pulled out ten lengths in the finale. Sixteen year old Charlie Cooper (Eden Veranda) riding his first ever road race grabbed second place ahead of Pete Warner (RideBike.co.uk). The young Southampton-based triathlete is equally talented in the water and on the run, a bright future beckons. Predictably it was Rowan Horner (VC ST Raphael/Waites Contracts) who pulled out an early lead, the experienced tester gaining a small gap with Dave Dalton (Fareham Wheelers), the pair were left to waste energy in the strong wind before the race hit the climb for the first time. The hill did its job,the race split, the two became ten and Syme prepared to reprise his move of twelve months ago.
1, ANDREW SYMES (PRIMERA-SPORT.COM)
2, CHARLIE COOPER (EDEN VERANDA)
3, PETE WARNER (RIDEBIKE.CO.UK)
4, IAN TAYLOR (LEICESTER FOREST CC)
5, JAMES HYWELL-DAVIES (GILLINGHAM & DIST WH)
6, JOE HICKERTON (EDEN VERANDA)
7, BROOK ELGIE (ROCK&ROAD CYCLES)
8, ED ROLLITT (EDEN VERANDA)
9, ROLAND TILLEY (RIDEBIKE.CO.UK)
10, ROWAN HORNER (VC ST RAPHAEL/WAITES CONTRACTS)