The Tandem Tart Time Trial is back

SAVE THE DATE... Sunday 23rd June 2024. After a bit of ‘jiggling’ when laying out the field, I managed to give all 141 entries a ride. I believe this was the largest event in the South DC last year. Can we improve on that? Riders from all walks of life from all over the Country took to the P164 R2 on a sunny Sunday morning for a bit of fun (or not) and everyone who finished received a prize.

Organisation for this year’s extravaganza has started and entries are already coming in. Here are the links to enter but if that doesn’t appeal, please consider offering your help.

I need marshals, timekeepers, people to help in the HQ with signing on and refreshments along with many cake bakers. You just cannot beat a home baked cake!

Any queries or offers to help please email mary.corbett7@btinternet.com

 

Enter online:

Solo Riders     2 up TTT     Tandems

 

Thank you
Mary Corbett


Wessex CX League, Round 12, Crow

The final round of the Wessex cyclocross league 2023/2024 season brought the curtain down on a great year for the club. Round 12 was held at Crow in the New Forest once again and saw some cracking, fast racing on a course full of cambered, twisting turns and slippery MTB singletrack.

In the U10s, Freddie Trosh took 5th place, the U12 girls Eve Carline and Matilda Wilks were 3rd and 4th, Lorenzo Scarponi taking 3rd in the U12 boys. Tom Wilks took 2nd in u14 boys. Izzy Hall 2nd U16 girl with Niclas Olley and Tom Allen 2nd and 5th in the U16 boys.

Gemma Wilks had a great race in the v40 women despite a wardrobe malfunction on the startline (safety pins saved the day!) she achieved an impressive first race win in her category. Emma Harrison was 2nd Junior woman. The Junior Open race had 2 Sotonians on the podium - George Connell finishing off his season well in 2nd and Sam Ridgment's best race of the season in 4th.

The v40 Open race had three club riders on the podium - Tom Budden, Pete Boustred and Andy Gardiner rounding off a dominant season in 2rd, 4th and 5th places.

Our top rider in the v50 Open was Jon Hall, in 6th position.

Lewis Revill finished 10th in the final event of the day, the Senior Open race.

 

The final individual league standings

A highly successful season saw highlights of:

  • Tom Wilks - 2nd U14 Boy (including 2 race wins)
  • Marit Davidse - 5th U14 Girl
  • Izzy Hall - 2nd U16 girl (including 5 race wins)
  • Niclas Olley - 2nd U16 Boy (including 2 race wins)
  • Tom Allen - 3rd U16 Boy (including 1 race win)
  • Emma Harrison - 3rd Junior Woman (including 1 race win)
  • George Connell - 3rd Junior Open
  • Gemma Wilks - 6th V40 Woman (including 1 race win)
  • Andy Gardiner - 2nd V40 Open (including 1 race win)
  • Tom Budden - 5th v40 Open
  • Jez Hart - 8th v50 Open

 

The team league standings

  • v40 Open (A team of Andy Gardiner, Tom Budden and Pete Boustred) - 1st place
  • v40 Open (B team of Phil Banks, Phil Wilks and Mark Allen) - 2nd place
  • v50 Open (A team of Jez Hart, Jason Harrison and Phil Connell) - 2nd place
  • U14 Boys (A team of Tom Wilks, Reuben Harrington and Jos Robson) - 2nd place
  • U14 Boys (B team of Morgan Gilbert, Aneurin Gilbert and George Boustred) - 4th place
  • U16 Boys (A team of Niclas Olley, Tom Allen and Monty Flavell) - 1st place
  • U16 Boys (B team of Danny Forsyth, Benji Pike and Finlay Banks) - 3rd place
  • U16 Girls (A team of Izzy Hall, Poppy Carline and Ella Ridgment) - 2nd place
  • Junior Women (Emma Harrison and Lucy Phillips) - 2nd place
  • Junior Open (Emma Harrison and Lucy Phillips) - 2nd place

 

So some fantastic results in a highly competitive league – well done everyone who raced for our club this year!

 

Photos: Pitchside Paul

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Strong start for Sotonia in Zwift Racing League

Round 3 of the Zwift Racing League started last night, and saw a strong start for Sotonia. Our women’s C team (Sotonia Cranks) finished 3rd overall, placing Vikki Sutcliffe, Donna Bennett and Gemma Wilks in the top 10. Was it just a coincidence that they did so well despite losing touch with their DS Richard Johnson, who lost his microphone connection during the key phase of the race?

Sotonia Bees (open B category) finished 2nd, led to glory by Chris Moody’s superbly timed attack at the end to take first place. Along with Jerome Bakker, Chris then doubled up, to ride with Sotonia Buzz (open B category) just 90 seconds later. Remarkably, Chris pulled off his second win of the night, and again led his team to an overall second place finish. Kudos Chris, and welcome to Tom Pritchard and Jim Martin, making their debut for Buzz.

SotoniAs (open A category) are in a tough division. How tough? Well, they’re competing with Alex Dowsett, who only managed to finish 19th on the night. Not put off, SotoniAs finished 8/11, with just 5 riders. Welcome back Andy Gardiner and Ant Gritton to the SotoniAs fold.

They’ll all be lining up again next Tuesday night, for a points race around Makuri Island’s Island Hopper course. Let us know if you’d like to join them.

Tim


Wessex CX League, Round 11, Crabwood

Plenty of slips, slides, thrills and spills at this season's round 11 of the Wessex Cyclocross league at Southampton Sports Centre hosted by Crabwood CC. Congrats to Niclas Olley and Tom Wilks on their second wins of the season in the U16 and U14 races. Great riding everyone!

 

Photos: Pitchside Paul

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Wilks wins Alpe du Zwift handicap

Congratulations to Sotonian Tom Wilks who won our 2024 Alpe du Zwift handicap challenge. 50 riders set off up the hill on Tuesday night, of whom 21 were from Sotonia (other riders were from VC Venta and Poole Wheelers).

Tom’s time of 41:39 saw him beat his handicap by a full 11 minutes, overtaking Nick Henson from Poole in the final straight. Kent Langridge from VC Venta was the third finisher.

For Sotonia, the first three finishers were Tom Wilks and Jos Robson (both of whom were U16), followed by Evan Jardine Skinner. But the fastest overall rider on the night and also new Sotonia champion was Joey Wynne with an extraordinary time of 41:24, pipping Tom by 15 seconds. Andy Gardiner was the third fastest Sotonian, on 42:50.

In the ladies event, first female finisher was Sonia Whiteman from Venta, followed by Angela Laycock (Poole) and Vikki Sutcliffe (Sotonia). But Angela Laycock was the fastest overall female finisher (57:23) followed by Sonia (66:50) and Vikki (just 4 seconds behind).

That makes Vikki the new Sotonia champion, with Gemma Wilks (68:39) and Claire Johnson (86:23) filling out the podium.

Full results can be seen here

Thank you, and congratulations to all riders. We hope to see you again for our next challenge, a chase race to be organised at the end of the ZRL season.

 


Sign up for the Alpe du Zwift handicap race

Sotonia’s annual handicap chase up the Alpe has been set for Tuesday 9 January 2024, with the first riders setting off at 1830.

This is a great event for all Zwifters, whatever your level of experience or skill. The handicap system will give slower riders an advantage over the faster riders, with the intention that everybody gets to the top at the same time. You can set yourself the challenge of completing the ride, beating your handicap, or being the first to the top. While it’s available, this really doesn’t have to be proper type II suffering.

We’ll be joined by riders from VC Venta and Poole Wheelers. Last year I 'fiddled the handicaps' which led to me being the first across the line. Can I defend my title? Can Will Weynberg defend his fastest men’s segment time? Can Sarah Champion defend hers? And who’ll challenge Sam Ridgment’s U16 title? Can Oscar Hoult retain his crown as the fastest non-Sotonia rider?

All will be revealed on Tuesday 9 January. Find out more details here and sign on in our Sotonia CC companion app club.

Tim Cooke

 


Wessex CX League, Round 8, Dalton Barracks

Round 8 of the Wessex Cyclocross League at Dalton Barracks put on its trademark technical course based on a M.O.D 4x4 training area full of deep ruts and even deeper puddles on Sunday. It was 3°c and it was raining – pretty standard for Abingdon – needless to say there weren't many bare arms or legs on show!

You were doing well if you stayed upright in the super slippery conditions, but plenty of our boys and girls did on their way to race highlights like another win for Izzy Hall (U16 girls), Tom Wilks – 2nd U14 boy and there were a trio of Sotonians on the U16 boys podium with Monty Flavell nipping past Niclas Olley and Tom Allen in a thrilling sprint for 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Elsewhere, Andy Gardiner didn't let a mere flat tyre stop him while sitting 2nd in v40 Open with two laps to go and no spare bike - he still managed 5th place behind Tom Budden in 4th. There were also top fives for Freddie Trosh and James Sutton (U10 boys), Matilda Wilks and Eve Carline (u12 girls) and Emma Harrison - 3rd Junior woman. George Connell was also clearly loving the technical stuff with his best results of the season – a fantastic 3rd place as a first year Junior.

Great riding everyone!

 

Photos: Pitchside Paul

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Segment of the month final results

October saw the end of the 2023 segment of the month competition, with only a little bit of shuffling of the orders at the top of the rankings. Emma Harrison cemented her position at the top of the U16 women’s competition, beating Izzy Hall into second place.

In the overall women’s competition, Sophie Sellars, who had established an early lead, held on to this, from the hard chasing Jen Dawson, with Debbie Hallett rounding out the podium. Curiously, Izzy Hall came in 4th, ahead of Emma Harrison, because her times were often slightly faster than Emma’s. Indeed, Izzy was actually the fastest female on three of the months, and second fastest on two more. Things look good for her in the future.

In the U16 men’s competition, George Connell took the top step, just one point ahead of Niclas Olley. There’s going to be some battles to come between those two in future years.
Andy Gardiner had established a strong lead in the men’s overall competition, and cemented this in October. He gave himself a slack month though, only coming in fourth fastest (an off month for Andy, but something the rest of us can only dream of). Jeremy Hubbard brought cunning and strength to the competition, saving his joker to the final month, and setting the fastest time this month. This helped him leapfrog into second place overall, ahead of George Connell. Special mention to Paul Macken, mixing it with the young ‘uns, and only just being pipped to the podium.

Final results can be seen here.

So that’s a wrap for 2023. We’ll be back in April 2024. Thanks to those of you who have filled in the google form asking for suggestions for next round.

 

Season results

Women’s U16
1. Emma Harrison 155 points
2. Izzy Hall 144 points

Women’s overall
1. Sophie Sellars 162 points
2. Jen Dawson 159 points
3. Debbie Hallett 145 points

Men’s U16
1. George Connell 166 points
2. Niclas Olley 165 points
3. Corbin Gregson 36 points

Men’s overall
1. Andy Gardiner 166 points
2. Jeremy Hubbard 139 points
3. George Connell 131 points