I've decided to focus on road racing this year and Saturday was my first ever road race at the MDCC Springtime Pursuits Race 1. Sunday was racing MTB XC in the male pairs category at the Stinger duathlon event at Newnham Park with my Exeter College team mate Matt Dowell taking care of the running.
Saturday morning and the drive out to Halwill Junction was grim. Heavy rain and strong winds were the order of the day - oh well, the same for everyone! The male cat 4 event was split into 3 groups and I was part of the third group which departed some 4 mins after the first group had disappeared up the road.
Our group worked solidly to pull back the first two groups over the course of the race, catching the last group around 1k to the finish.
I made a break on the last incline to get away from the bunch with Philip Collings (Tavistock Wheelers) holding my wheel. Once over the climb he came to the front on the drag to the finish where I out sprinted him to take second place. First place was bagged by Graham Collins (Tanks Direct Cycling) who had started in the front group some 4 mins ahead of us.
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| Reppin' MDCC on the podium |
So, onto Sunday. First off the weather was actually playing fair for a change - the sun made a welcome appearance and it felt vaguely like Spring...for a bit.
Matt kicked of with a 5k run, he got a great start leading out the pack and coming back in third around half a minute down on the leader.
So my turn for the 20k MTB ride (4 laps of the same course) and I headed up the climb in pursuit of the two riders in front of me. I pressed on and caught the leader, Max Suttie (Team Certini) halfway through the first lap, sat in for a bit to recover before taking the lead and gradually began to open up a gap.
The conditions were pretty slow going and slippery but after a fairly eventful ride I had pulled over a four minute advantage to Max as I came back in to hand over to Matt for the final 3k bog run.
In the end Matt held the lead and came home in first so we took top step on the podium for the Male Pairs race - result, nice work Matt!
So a great weekend of racing - the early season form ain't looking too bad! Thanks to MDCC for organising the Springtime Pursuits and Fully Sussed for organising the Stinger - both great events!
And finally a big thanks to my ACES sports tutor Nick Bridge for organising our college entry to the Stinger :)