Southern Region CX Championships, Kingsclere
The 2022 Southern Regional Cyclocross Championships was an event that almost didn't happen after the original planned venue fell through at the 11th hour. It took some heroic last minute action from the Eventrex crew and the Wessex League committee team to secure a brand new location at Kingsclere on Watership Down so chapeau to them for what turned out to be a near mud free course despite heavy rainfall for pretty much the entire month of November - maybe there's some subtereanean rabbit drainage system?
In the U8 boys, Leighton Riley was 5th, Freddie Trosh and Ruby Boustred 3rd U10 boy and girl. In the U12s, Matilda Wilks won the girls race with Eve Carline 3rd. Cordon Eccleston finishing 2nd in the boys.
The U14s saw Tom Allen take 3rd spot. George Connell was also 3rd in the U16s. Our juniors, Louis Kirk and Lucy Phillips finished 7th and 2nd in their races.
Moving on to the v40 men, Tom Budden took 3rd place. Gemma Wilks 4th place in the Senior women's race. Top finishers in the v50/v60 men were Jon Hall (11th v50) and Jon Dudley (7th v60).
Great riding everyone!
Photos: Pitchside Paul
Sotonia's Zwift teams enjoy best week yet
Results are still provisional, but unlikely to change. And there’s too much good news not to share it straight away. Great rides all round from our teams last night in Sprinter’s Playground, essentially 12 sprints with very little recovery. Think cyclocross without having to clean your bike afterwards.
Bullets (women’s B category) celebrate and mourn the promotion of Emily Lockwood who sprinted her way superbly to a huge sprint point haul, and promotion to the highest league possible, category A. Thanks Emily, it was good to have you in the team.
Cranks (women’s C category) rode strongly all round, with 5 riders crossing the line close together, taking their team across the line in 8th place. They drop one place in the league, down to 4th, but still close to the podium.
Bees (men’s B category) had the usual signal drop out problems, but still kept three in the front group, competing across the sprints. They were led across the line by Andy Gardiner, carrying cyclocross form into the garage. 5th on the night keeps them in 3rd place in their league
Best team performance of the night, though, was undoubtedly from Buzz (men’s B category), who won their division on the night, with a masterclass in sprinting from Dan Lickman and Chris Moody, who also crossed the finish line in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Buzz's win was ably supported by Joffrey Carlier with his sprint points. But the rider of the night was Alastair Cooper, who put himself back into the team to ensure his team were able to field 4 riders and avoid a DQ. Great captaincy, and it sees their team go to 3rd in their league.
That superb achievement shoots them to the top of the intra-club completion by some distance. Two races left: can they hold on?
Next week is TTT night, on Watopia’s Waistband. A real test of team unity, strength and coordination.
You know the drill by now – if you want in, comment below, speak to an existing rider, or email us at info@sotonia.co.uk. And watch out for details about the Alpe handicap on 20 December.
Wessex CX League, round 8, Andover
Round 8 of the Miche Wessex CX League followed on from the elite UCI CX event the day before at Charlton Leisure Centre, Andover for a pick'n'mix course that literally had a bit of everything. Using some super tricky offcambers around the athletic track, we had banks, a double flight run up, multiple slippy, technical corners, a lap of the local BMX track, the biggest sandpit the league has ever seen and if all that wasn't enough, the holy grail all course designers and cross riders aspire to... a double bridge that crossed the venue.
The riders tackled the hallowed bridge early on in the race, mostly without incident as they swarmed over the scaffolding planks and it was great to see the U12s get a chance to tackle this imposing obstacle.
Sotonia struck top 5 in the first U8 race with a 4th place for Stanley Paige, Billy Dyer and Rita Howbrook 2nd U10 boy and 6th U10 girl. In the U12s, Eve Carline and Matilda Wilks finished 4th and 5th girls, Cordon Eccleston 3rd U12 boy. Top U14s were Tom Allen and Ella Ridgment, 6th and 7th. George Connell was 18th in a high quality U16 field.
There was another strong performance by Andy Gardiner in the U40 men (5th) with Tom Budden in 9th with his second race of the weekend after 10th place in a very muddy National Trophy in Paignton on Saturday. In the Junior women, Lucy Phillips was victorious and Gemma Wilks also had an awesome race to finish 3rd senior woman.
The v50 men's race saw success for Jon Hall, 7th v50, Jon Dudley (8th v60) and the final race of the day - the senior men, brought a fine ride from Phil Banks - 12th in a strong field.
Great riding everyone!
Photos: Pitchside Paul
Sotonia Zwift teams excel
This week was a great week for our Sotonia Zwift teams. Cranks (Women’s category C team) led the charge, finishing 2nd in their league, with some superb riding from Gemma Wilks and Donna Bennett who bagged over half the team’s points between the two of them. Bees (Men’s category B team) came in 3rd on the night, after spreading out the sprint points between 5 of the 6 members of the team. A true team effort. Not to be outdone, Buzz (another Men’s category B team) also came in 3rd on the night, led by the extraordinary Dan Lickman, who finished 2nd and earned sprint points on every single sprint (winning 2 of them). And Blaze, our women’s category B team, rode bravely and strongly, with just 4 riders finishing, to take them to 11th place on the night.
Things are tight in the intra-club competition. Cranks have the most points, but it’s still all to play for.
Next week we go to Japan’s Makuri Islands for a sprint-fest. 12 sprints across three laps will mean zero chance of recovery between sprints, and lots of tactics to determine the eventual winner.
If you’d like to join us, speak to an existing rider, comment below, or send us an email at info@sotonia.co.uk
Zwift Racing League Week 2 report
We're two races in to the season. Last week was a tough start in France on Roule Ma Poule: straight out into a selective hill and then a finish climb at the end. Our new female category B team (Sotonia Bullets) welcomed new riders Franie Ng and Lynsey Carpenter, while Gemma Wilks stepped up from Cranks to ride B category. Emily Lockwood excelled, picking up a nice haul of sprint points to lead her team to 11th place.
All the other Sotonia teams had reasonable nights, coming in either 6th or 7th. Some comedy riding from a Crank who shall remain nameless had her crossing the sprint line first, hands in the air to celebrate the win (probably) before she realised, oops that wasn't actually the sprint line. We've all been there (or at least, I have).
Last night was TTT night, a hard night's work on Greater London Flat. This one suited our riders: Sotonia Bullets (Emily Lockwood, Annie Dixey, Sarah Needle, Sarah Champion and Lynsey Carpenter) were the fastest B category TTT team in the BC South region. Huge congratulations.
Bees (men's B category) and Cranks (women's C category) also excelled, coming in 3rd in their divisions on the night, and now sit 4th in their respective league. Buzz (men's B category) turned in another strong performance, 5th on the night and now 6th in the league.
Next week we go to Watopia for six laps of the Two Bridges Loop. This will be a hard interval session, with a sprint and a climb on each lap, coming at something like 10 to 12 minute intervals. Bring it on! As ever, we've room for more riders. Just let us know if you want to join in, by commenting below, connecting to a rider you know, or sending an email to info@sotonia.co.uk
October segment of the month
October’s segment took riders back into the New Forest for a blast along one of Red Walters’ KoMs, the Forest Road leading up to Roger Penny Way. Strangely, nobody managed to steal it off him, but Debbie Hallett pipped Jen Dawson to the win in the female competition. Jeremy Hubbard took his first gold of the season in the male competition, with Paul Macken and Pete Coombs rounding out the podium. There were no entrants in either the male or female U16s competition, perhaps reflecting the start of the cross season.
Congratulations to the overall competition podium fillers:
Female U16: Izzy Hall (gold)
Female allcomers: Debbie Hallett (gold); Jennifer Dawson (silver); Issy Hall (bronze)
Male U16: George Connell (gold); Corbin Gregson (silver)
Male allcomers: Andy Gardiner (gold); Paul Macken (silver); Martin Nobbs (bronze)
Full results are viewable here.
The competition will take a breather over the winter, ready to return in April 2023.
Sotonia Zwift teams – end of round 1 report
The final race of the round was on Watopia’s Eastern Eight, and was the longest race of the season. Ride of the night was by the whole of the Bees (male B category) team, who had a do or die plan to try to split the race and climb into 2nd place to gain automatic promotion. Some incredibly brave TTTing split the pack, but couldn’t establish a gap. A brave brave ride was poorly rewarded with 5th on the night – but a place on the podium in 3rd overall for the round.
Sotonia Cranks (women’s C category) put in a typically strong all round performance, finishing 5th on the night and 4th overall in the round.
Sotonia Buzz (mixed B category team) came in 13th on the night and 12th overall. They deserve special credit for their mixed status – it’s tough to compete as a mixed team in a competition dominated by male riders.
We need YOU!
So next season we want to try to run a women’s B team and two male B teams. We are right on the edge of having enough riders to do this, but we could do with a couple more B cat men and a couple more B cat women. If you’re Zwift curious, just comment below to express an interest, or talk to any of our Zwift riders. Next round starts November 8.
Wessex CX League, round 6, Southampton
The rain and mud held off for another day at our home round of the Miche Wessex Cyclocross league. We saw close fought racing on a tried and tested track that our devilish designers modified, tweaked and extended to include more grassy banks than the square mile. Judging by the feedback from competitors and spectators, it was the best Sports centre course in many a year - a fast, flowing and technical course featuring a new wooded section (thanks to Jason and his chainsaw) and the deceptively tricky offcamber section.
With close to 500 entrants, 63 Sotonia riders took part across the age categories and it was extremely pleasing to see so many under 10s (many participating for the first time) in the opening race, itself attracting a field of 60+ youngsters. Bringing top 5s for Billy, Freddie and Rita. The U12s saw our first win of the day for Matilda, closely followed by Eve and Jaya (2nd and 5th). Closest duel of the day went to Tom Allen and Noah Smith (GKR Racing), the duo inseparable until the final corner when Tom sprinted clear to take a brilliant first U14 win, Tom Wilks also scored an impressive 3rd as a first year in the category. In the U16s, Izzy Hall and George Connell both finished 5th. Lucy Phillips was also 2nd in the Junior women.
For the senior races, our v40 men continued to dominate the team age classification - Andy Gardiner, Tom Budden, Phil Wilks all in the top 10 (3rd, 4th and 8th). Gemma Wilks was our top finisher in the women's race. In the v50 men, Jon Hall was back in action with a very good 6th place, Jon Dudley making the third step on the v60 podium. Phil Banks our sole senior men rider, rounded off the day, with 14th place in a strong field.
Last but very definitely not least, big thanks to the band of nearly thirty Sotonia helpers who helped set up and take down the course, marshal and run the event so smoothly.
Photos: Pitchside Paul
Wessex CX League, round 2, Droxford
It was the return of Droxford and the fearsome Hecklers Hill this weekend for the rescheduled round 2 of the Miche Wessex Cyclocross league in biblical or sunny conditions, depending on what time you raced. Great course and event from the Fareham Wheelers team!
Amazing photos as usual by Pitchside Paul
Zwift Racing League Week 5 report
This week was a shorter race in Watopia for Sotonia’s Zwift teams. For Bees (men's B category team), Jerome Bakker was rider of the night, stepping in at late notice to ride strongly and earn his cat up (he’d been riding as a C in a cat B team but is now officially a Bee!).
A strong overall performance in GC suffered a little bit for lack of prime points (although James Cooper made good use of a newly renovated turbo power pack to avoid any signal dropouts and earn our only prime points). Bees finished 5th on the night but slipped to 3rd in the table. It’ll be a tough one next week to finish in the coveted 2nd spot overall.
Buzz (mixed B category) again performed strongly as a mixed team riding in a dominantly male competition. Dan Lickman led the team in on a tough night, but the rider of the night award was earned by Annie Dixey, who stepped in at late notice after earlier riding 30 miles outdoors. They now sit 12th in their league but have the realistic possibility of climbing at least two places higher with a strong final race.
Cranks (women's C cat) missed Hannah Budden who ended her streak of successive top 10 places, but handed on the mantle of team leader to Donna Bennett, who came in 7th and earned a few prime points along the way.
Next week is the final race of the round, and in a new arrangement will have different races for different categories. B cat will race on Watopia’s Eastern Eight while C cat take on Downtown Titans.
There’s honour to be fought for to earn the “Sotonia team of the round” plaudits: Bees sit on 86 league points, while Cranks are just one point behind on 85.
Then we have a few weeks off before the new season starts on November 8th. We are likely to rebalance the teams, so if you’re interested in starting racing with us, do let us know. As last week, we’re particularly interested in male A category riders, male or female B category riders and female D category riders. Come join us.
