The fourth and final round of the Marlborough Bike Company Summer Cyclocross was held at Marlborough College on Sunday 19 August.
Twenty riders lined up for the start of the Under 12s race. With many new faces in the crowd, it was hard to predict the winner. Luckily, we had four hotly contested laps of racing to decide the podium. The battle for the top step was well fought by Adam Jones and Melissa Cooper. These two had been on each other’s tails during the whole race, and just one mistake by either of them would have sealed their fate. However, they both rode a brilliant race with Adam just crossing the line in front to take the win for Palmer Park Velo, with Melissa taking the second spot for Spokes BPC Racing. Alex Taylor pulled out a strong gap over Lewis Ridge in fourth, landing Alex the final spot on the podium for Oxonion CC.
The Under 16s race was equally as exciting. Angus Beggin and Toby Houghton are now familiar faces on the Marlborough Cyclocross podiums, and were once again involved in some close racing. They fought hard throughout the race, putting in some stunning lap times. It eventually came down to a battle at the last corner, and a final sprint by Angus meant that he was standing on the top step for Bicester Millennium Cycling Club, whilst Toby took the well deserved second place for Fareham Wheelers. Madeline Cooper rode her own race throughout and came home comfortably in third place for Spokes BPC Racing.
There were some familiar faces in the Ladies’ race, but it was newcomer to Marlborough Cyclocross, Abbie Manley who turned up and blew the field apart. She took the lead off the start, and coming home in first place was never in any doubt. Abbie crossed the line almost a minute ahead of her closest rival and comfortably secured the win for Hargroves-Ridley-Montezuma. Local rider Lindy Larkin returned to the course this week but couldn’t replicate her previous successes and instead took the second place prize for Sarum Velo. Kate Robson was a consistent rider throughout all of this year’s rounds, and continued that theme in this week’s race by posting consistently good lap times to secure third place for PedalOn.
The Men’s race told a familiar tale with Paul Lloyd again, leading the race from the start. Despite introducing some more complex features in to the course (including a flight of steps to be negotiated), nothing nor no-one could keep Paul from taking the win for Worx Bikes. There was plenty of hard and fast racing taking place on the course, including three riders caught up in a battle for second. On the fourth lap, Karl Norfolk broke away from the pack by putting in the fastest lap time of the day. He held on to this gap for the rest of the race, which was more than enough to secure second place for him and PedalOn. The battle for third continued between Morgan Jones and Alex Watkins. Spectators were treated to some great racing as these two continued to fight hard. However, on the penultimate lap Alex managed to pull away and snatch third place for Sarum Velo.
That concludes the 2018 Marlborough Bike Company Summer Cyclocross racing. Huge thank you to Marlborough College Summer School for the use of their fantastic venue, and to Eventrex Event Services for building and running such exciting races. Of course the biggest thank you goes to everyone who come along and supported the races, either by marshalling, spectating or taking part!
For more details of how to take part in any future events www.marlboroughbike.co.uk
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