We’re back for Round One of the Wessex CX League hosted by fellow cycling team, Solent Pirates over at Clanfield. In the past, this has been one of the hardest courses of the season; with a lot of climbing and frequently getting off. However, this year there was less of that. Still a difficult course, though, with steps (that a few rode), hurdles, hairpin corners and of course a few switch-backs leading up to the pits. We had an off-camber in the second field leading up to the start straight and that just about rounded it off for the adults course.
The kids course was kept separate with a tight hairpin after the start, followed by a few corners, a brief stint into the woods, before returning to the start/finish straight.
There was an excellent turnout for Sotonia yesterday. At the start of the morning our U8s hit their course. Sunni Muriithi, our only U8, finished sixth. He was followed by our U10s. Leighton Riley showed a fantastic effort, having started from the back of the grid to finishing in sixth, well done to him. He was closely followed by Joseph Lovegrove in seventh. Joshua Marsden finished in eighteenth and Wilfred Barlow in twenty-first. Amie Williams, our female U10, came sixth.
Following them on a slightly extended course were our Under 12s. Emily Williams raced well, making it onto the podium in second. In our U12 boys, Freddie Trosh came sixth; Theo Plumb finished twelfth, closely followed by James Sutton in thirteenth. Ruben Davies came fifteenth and Rex Davies in twenty-second, after a mechanical. After a particularly difficult race, Archie Frogley came twenty-third after a brilliant fight.
Next up, we hit the adult course, starting off with our U14s and U16s. And what a race it was. Eve Carline finished in third after successfully staving off fourth place, a brilliant podium for her. Matilda Wilks came sixth after her fight with fellow Sotonian, Alexis Barry who came eighth. Billy Dyer came sixteenth, a tremendous effort for his first race in Under 14s.
In the U16s, Marit Davidse came seventh; Reuben Harrington finished sixth after an exceptional race to keep in the top five. Adam Koperdan came seventeenth.
Niclas Olley finished in third, topping off the podium, after a valiant effort in the Junior race. Samuel Marcade ended in eighth, Stanley Phillips in tenth and Benji Pike in fourteenth.
In the Masters 40s, Andi Gardiner came second, in the Masters 50s, Jon Hall finished eleventh. In the U23s, Samuel Ridgment came 28th, a fabulous fight considering a few mechanical issues.
Overall, a phenomenal result for Sotonia. Hopefully, we can keep going up. Next up: Fairthorne!