On Sunday we had five Banbury Star juniors – Jorgie Gillett, Caleb Smith, Henry Boyles, Ruben Baker and William Morris – cyclo-cross racing. All were at Milton Keynes Bowl, which was round two of the Central League CX series.
The course was generally flat, apart from one steep ramp which proved a real tough climb if your gearing was wrong. The trouble was, the flat sections were on freshly mown grass and this was playing havoc, getting caught up in chains, gears and brakes.
There are quite a few age groups for the juniors and in the under 10 females start we had Jorgie Gillet who finished an excellent second.
Jorgie on the podium
In the under 10 boys’ race, we had Caleb and Henry, who both raced well and looked like securing top five positions, until Henry unfortunately got tangled up in the course marker tape, causing him to crash. Then, only minutes later, Caleb did exactly the same thing.
In the under 14 boys’ race, Ruben Baker finished ninth, closely followed by William Morris, just 10 seconds further back.
Spot the Stars – Jorgie left, Caleb centre and Henry centre towards the back
As we’ve said before, CX racing is a great off-road environment, for juniors to get into racing. There are generally six age group categories and the whole thing is marshalled in a safe way, with lots of fun to be had.
Whilst CX racing continues to grow, another discipline that’s still going strong is hill climbing, something member Graham Martin has been busy doing recently.
Graham came third in our own Durran Cup event on 11th September, with a time of 1m.08.3 and then the next day, entered another one. This time it was an Open event, the Hardwick Hall Hill Climb near Chesterfield, organised by Bolsover & District CC. Graham finished 25th out of a strong field of 70 riders and was sixth in the Vets category.
Then this last Sunday, he went to another Open event at Whiteleaf Hill in the Chilterns, organised by Watford Velo. At the time of writing the results have not been published, but Graham was confirmed as third Vet.