Dave & Jo's weekend...

Weekend report from Dave Creeggan ...
I rode the Les Ingman Memorial race on Sunday, 8 laps of the lovely Bletchingly circuit. It was the first hilly race I’ve done this season and I could tell as I was suffering! On the first lap I think it was Mcnamara who went ballistic up the climb to the A25 and split the race in two, unfortunately I was in the wrong half and could see the race disappearing up the road so I decided I had better jump across or it was race over, fortunately, Steve Gowar, Steve Calland and couple of other strong guys came with me and after a hard chase we caught the group after about a lap. Next lap I got into a break of about eight guys which I thought would stick however we were caught within a couple of laps. It was a war of attrition with riders going out the back each lap and then it started to rain, there was a crash as we turned on to the A25, carbon BMC broken in two as riders ploughed into it.

Mcnamara attacked again on the hill, I couldn’t go with him and six riders got away. I spent the rest of the race chasing, practicing my time trialling for the Majorcan run-ins, Wildside, London Dynamo and Norwood Paragon were all in the break and no one else was going to do anything. I kept them in sight till the last lap when I had had enough. At the finish managed to sprint for 9th and claim a tenner, which nearly covered the energy gels that I used.


Jo had her first victory of the season at the Southern XC Series, she rode the Open Womens category. On the first lap she was in second place piling on the pressure and the girl in front made a mistake and ended up in a river, however she got back on and wasn’t able to close the gap to Jo. She now owns the biggest trophy in the cabinet.

Jo also rode the Crystal Palace Womens race last Tuesday finishing 3rd after lapping the entire field. She went from the gun with 2 of her team mates from the Surrey League womens team, who are also leading the Women’s National series. Jo rode for the team in Nottingham recently finishing in the bunch with Charlotte Blackman winning for the Surrey League after a great team performance.

Jamie takes 3rd
Also riding the Southern XC series round 2 at Deers Leap Country Park, East Grinstead, Jamie Newall led the Masters field through the first lap but eased to finish a comfortable 3rd place. (with an 8 minute variance between lap 1 and lap 3 we suspect he went off a bit quick?!)