Most of the racing for members of the Ely & District Cycling Club - B&T Motor Repairs last weekend took place in Colchester, with junior member Harvey Woodroffe first to race on Saturday. Woodroffe was racing in the Under 12s category in the second round of the Colchester Centurion Autumn Race Series, a circuit race held at Colchester Northern Gateway. In the lead group on the penultimate lap of the race, Woodroffe found himself at the back of the group when one rider broke clear. He put up a determined chase and, while unable to catch the eventual winner, managed to stay clear of the chasing pack to finish second.
Woodroffe was also one of seven Ely riders racing in the third round of the Eastern Cyclocross League organised by VC Revolution at Hilly Fields in Colchester on Sunday. The venue is aptly named as the course was punctuated by a series of challenging climbs and technical descents. Woodroffe finished 3rd in the Under 12 category, the first two riders pulling away due to jumping the hurdles rather than dismounting. Lucas Bowman finished in 12th in the U12 race having been delayed by being involved in two crashes in the opening two laps. In the U14 race Kieran Vanhoutte finished in 9th place.
In the Junior race Isaac Barton showed that he is adapting to the longer one hour race format by finishing in 8th place and in the V40 category Ferenc Vanhoutte had his best result of the season finishing in 22nd place, ahead of Dan Bromilow in 42nd place. In the V50 race Neil Bowman made a strong start and while he faded during the race he still finished in 16th place overall.
For Ely riders not competing in the cyclocross racing, there was an alternative on Sunday in the form of the club hillclimb race, organised in conjunction with Newmarket CC. The hillclimb course is only short at 860m but has an average gradient of 5.8%, reaching a maximum gradient of 9%. Junior rider Tom Lewis was the fastest Ely rider on the day, with a time of 2:03:89, followed by John Manlow and Jason Ward in second and third places respectively.
Photographs:
Harvey Woodroffe waits for the start of the cyclocross race.
Neil Bowman taking on the hurdles.
Tom Lewis, winner of the club hill climb. Credit Davey Jones
John Manlow, 2nd in the club hill climb. Credit Davey Jones
Jason Ward, 3rd in the club hill climb. Credit Davey Jones
Ely & District Cycling Club - B&T Motor Repairs Press Release 14th October 2021