Phil_Godfrey_Wessex_CX_Fareham_13.12.15_01

It was another ridiculously warm day for December 2015 this Sunday for the first of two Fareham Wheeler’s events at Fairthorne Manor, Botley for a well-liked, technical but tough course. The ground was mostly well drained featuring grippy grass meadows with some extremely boggy exceptions and a hillside wooded section full of sloppy mud on the fairly long 1.4 mile course that meant a lot of action in the pits for bike changes.

In the senior race, Tom Budden started on the front row of the grid but was beset by problems with a slow clip-in before powering back to 7th place when disaster struck on lap two and a broken mech put him out of the race. This left Tobie Charlton as top Sotonia senior (in a season’s PB of 18th place) who relished the extended technical running sections. Phil Godfrey was 27th, Ben Scott-Munden 31st and Niels Langhout 33rd. In the V40 race, Jez Hart  finished 22nd in his best result of the season so far after a tangle with the course tape denied a top 20 place. The V50 race featured John Phillips (26th and another season’s PB) and Simon Fitzjohn (35th).

For the womens race, Gemma Wilks returned to action with 12th place overall and 7th senior woman, and our most successful rider of the day – well done Gemma!

We fielded two of our juniors in the U12 race – George Connell and Loius Kirk who were closely matched throughout, George eventually coming out the better of the two.

Thanks to everyone who came to support and help in the pits to keep riders going. Next race is Crabwood CC’s Geoff Shergold Memorial Cross at Southampton Sports Centre on January 3rd, so Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year!

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