A Chat With League Winner Andy Rivett

This year’s Wessex Cycle Racing League was won by VC St Raphael rider Andy Rivett, but the season long win came down to a sprint finish on the last race in which Andy took the overall honours by less than the width of a tyre. Andy had started the season on the DHC team but when that was forced to close, Andy was taken in by Mick Waite’s long established club team.

Andy has been prominent on the local road scene for many years and he said of that time int he season “I needed a quality team and VC St Raphael is the best around”. The team has some class riders to push him on and he also has his “guru” Mike Anderson to keep him honest, along with team boss Mick who puts his heart and soul into the sport year after year.

Andy lives in Bishopstoke (Southampton), a place where he has now firmly set his roots. “I love it around here with it being central to everything I need”. There is plenty of good riding here, the New Forest is not far away and it’s only a short hop to London.” Andy works in Basingstoke as an Occupational Therapist, and travelling to work is a 55 mile commute which Andy use’s for training. The time on the bike is used well and is not just a slog to and from work.

Andy can regularly be found training in the New Forest with friends and training partners Jules and Julia (current men’s and women’s BBAR champions). “They push me on a bit, although as a roadie, I like to turn the screw a bit as we climb, although they certainly give me pay back on the flatter roads“.

Although Andy calls himself a roadie and revels in the big hilly events, he can also turn his hand to most disciplines’ within the sport. Andy is also an accomplished track rider and does enjoy Time trials. Andy’s showed his versatility by winning the National University Team Time Trial championship and more recently winning the RAAM 4 man team (Race across America).

Turning his attention to this season, Andy said the Wessex League is a “real boom to local cycling” and said that the work that Don and Mark (Standhaft) do is “EPIC”. “They have real passion for the sport and during times when organisers are pushing more towards circuit races, it’s great to see ‘Road ‘ racing being given a real push.”

Andy had a steady Wessex League picking up points at several events but the real push came towards the end of season. After winning a stage of the Tour of Dorset and finishing fourth overall, he went on to win the Autumn Road race and finished the season strong with a 4th and 5th in the last two races. Andy was pushed all the way to the title by his good friend Rowland Tilly from the Ride team. Before the last race, the Sotonia Heath race in the New Forest, the two riders even found time to embark on a little ‘wresting match’ before the action started.

The eventual overall win was taken on a very windy event where Andy only needed to finish ahead of Rowland to take the title. Andy set off fast from the gun hoping he’d (Rowland) would miss the break but to no avail as the pair finished together on the line after a super big sprint. The organisers had a difficult task of splitting them on the line and although the decision was awarded to Andy, it took the race organisers, the rest of the day to analyse the photos on the finish line to be 100% sure.

Now the season has finished, Andy has bigger things to look forward to as he and his wife Kim are expecting their first child, “the most exciting prospect ahead” he says. Andy will be racing next season but with the new arrival, not as much. He does promise however that he will be back to “hurt a few legs” but for now, Andy is looking forward a good rest, a ‘couple’ of beers and a change to his diet (eating cake).

Andy’s team manager Mick Waite added “Andy has had a superb season with some good results, including winning the season long W.C.R.L. overall. We were fortunate, despite other offers, to get Andy back in the team mid-season. As well as being a 1st category road rider, Andy rides some time trials, especially hilly ones; this fits in well with the team. Having achieved 14th in the National Team Rankings and 1st in British Cycling South Regional Rankings, in 2010, the team is looking forward to 2011 and Andy will be very much part of the team” says Mick.

Photo and interview Graham Robins

Inside The Wessex Cycle Racing League

At a time when most of the cycling community are concentrating on loosing their post xmas weight gain, Wessex Cycle Racing League instigators Don and Mark Standhaft are hard at work preparing for the next season. In the league headquarters at their home in Colehill, the father and son team split their time between the ‘day job’, coachbuilding vintage cars, the Entryweb website and organising the 2010 league.

“We’ve got d-mark concepts which is the day job, which you could say is the one that brings in the money.” Says Don (although Mark disputes the term ‘brings in the money’).

“We’ve got the Entryweb system that consumes the money and the league which is the one that consumes all the time. After that we’re knackered.”

Indeed, with twenty races to prepare for it seems all further leisure time is spent either eating or sleeping. Discovering exactly where the time goes is complicated.

“I’m the worst for keeping a tab on things.” Don admits. “Mark will say ‘Do you know how much time you’ve been spending out?’ But it’s all got to be done otherwise you fall flat on your face. It shouldn’t surprise me really because of all the events that I’ve done in the past but when you’re putting so many events on, the amount of time you spend just checking everything is surprising. If I see farmers or somebody with a horse on the course I’ll stop and tell them that we’re going to have some races on these dates or I’ll go up to the house and just to smooth out anything that might happen. At the end of summer you don’t catch up on all the time.”

With a history of organising races going back to the seventies, Don promoted the sadly now defunct Tour of Cranborne Chase and Chase Classic races, the former a multi-day stage race for club riders very much in the mould of the current WXCRL Dorset Tour, the latter a single day race for the top under 23s in the country. Both were run around the steep hills around Shaftsbury and both set the Standhaft signature by being set on ‘challenging’ courses.

“Locally, many people said that, that was far, far too hard for junior racing.” Says Don of the Chase Classic. “Yet it was the proper type of event for the riders. If you put a premier on there, that would be too much for a junior but not the other way around, the whole thing turned out a really good success. To the extent that John Herety said that the only two races that the under 23 squad considered to be a good test in the UK were the nationals – obviously – wherever they were held the other was the Chase Classic. We had Geraint Thomas, Ben Greenwood, Ben Swift and of course Dan Lloyd riding. I think Cavendish might’ve ridden it I’m not sure. If they could do a good ride in that race, they were watching them and they knew that that was a good result because, lets face it, that was a tough race.”

The Chase Classic spanned the era between the days when top juniors went straight into premier calendar and elite category races and now, when riders are now sent out to ride in the espoir class in Italy. Ironically, it was largely that which caused the demise of the race as British Cycling lost interest in the series. Asked if they would resurrect either, Mark laughs,

“We were planning to do the Tour of Cranborne Chase in 2010 but I’m not sure we can cope with it this year. I enthusiastically had visions of running it in June but in the end my head had to override my heart – we just cannot commit the time this season. If I wasn’t doing all the others events, particularly in June and I’d do it but it’s either one or the other.”

As it is, the Wessex League is taking up all available time. Now about to begin its second full season, with a full and varied program of races, the Standhafts started testing the water around local cycling clubs in 2007.

“Obviously, most right-minded people were thinking that it would be great if we could sort it out.” Says Don.

“Anyway, we got it going.” Adds Mark. “From my own point of view, it was going to take a couple of years before it would reach its level, its comfort zone. At the moment it’s uncomfortable, the amount of time that we put in but it will be worth it.”

From early on, the league was set up like a franchise of sorts, where the infrastructure was in place for others to take the initiative. Already running at full capacity, any further expansion is dependant on others – particularly local clubs – taking up the baton of running races.

“We’re absolutely open to anyone coming along and saying ‘I’ve been thinking, what about this that or the other’ ” Don explains. “And if they’re convincing about it and we have the where withal to do it then we’ll do it. The way that Mark set it up was that the clubs would put more in other than saying ‘Oh, that’s a good idea we’ll let Don and Mark set it up’. You’ve got to get the support of the clubs behind you. If they don’t get on board then all it is Mark and I doing all the hard work and them saying ‘that’s a wonderful thing you’re doing’ and you can only do that for so long and then you wear yourself out and you’ve got to reign it back. I have to say that Poole Wheelers and Bournemouth Arrow, they’ve taken to it very well the Sotonia have come on board this year with two new races on the Heath course in the New Forest”

If time and manpower are in short supply, then ideas are not.

“My mind is full of courses around the area.” Says Don. “I’ve actually got four road races planned out in the new forest area and we could do five circuits, just in the new forest.”

Part of the ‘The infrastructure’ refers to the Entryweb website, set up by Mark in 2008. Thanks to this, race entries can be done entirely online and in a matter of moments.

“The more the system is used the better and more advanced we can make it. Running a full-blown league online last year has really helped Entryweb – and me for that matter – understand what is required in every detail. I’ve also been able to look at it from the organisers point of view for more, rather than a business or web development standpoint. Running an entire league online on Entryweb last year for the first time has also really saved time, can you imagine handling over 900 postal entries and producing 20 paper event programmes – no thanks!”

But after setting up an account and password (and then remembering that password), with a payment by credit/debit card or PayPal, race entries can be made literally hours before the race. The unpredictable British weather and personal commitments can make people reluctant to enter until the very last-minute, however entries can be made at midnight of the night before dependant on closing date.

“To my detriment.” Laughs Mark. “Some nights I’d be up till 3am printing and organising the paperwork for the race the next day!”

Like it or not, this is likely to be the future of cycle racing and, with cheque books due to be phased out the writing maybe on the wall for the old way of posting a cheque and an entry form to the organiser a couple of weeks in advance.

“My aim is to grow and improve Entryweb developing an even better useful online tool. Just like the league my head is full of ideas for Entryweb’s future. I hope we can make them happen” Mark says.

Another area where modern technology maybe encroaching into cycle racing is transponders – used already for sportives, triathlons and MTB enduros, although still rare in proper cycle racing. Transponders record each individual bike, making bunch sprints a great deal easier to judge and giving a definitive result and finishing time for every single entrant. The days of coasting in at the back of the bunch may well be at an end.

On the subject, Don gets quite enthusiastic;

“If we could get transponders then that transforms the league.” He says. “It opens up the positions below the top 20 to so may others. In the league there are so many riders that miss out on the top 20 but they are the core, our base, they’re the ones that turn out every week. We’ve pulled our hair out sometimes when we’ve been in the presence of some so-called knowledgeable people about cycling and all they can do is say oh they’re not chasing or they’re not trying hard enough to get away or all they’re doing is talking or that all these people are there just to make up the numbers. What they don’t take into consideration is that these guys might have done 60 hours work that week, he’s got a mortgage to pay or a wife saying what you doing going out on the bike at weekends and he pinches a few hours training every week and that’s the limit that he’s racing at. If he had 20 hours training a week, he’d be off the front, but that’s the level he’s at and he’s the blood of cycle sport so don’t go criticising.”

However, for the time being, the transponders themselves remain very much in the future. The intention was to have them ready for this season but applications for grants to various authorities have been pending until 2009 has been fully wrapped up. The project remains on hold due to a combination of the credit crunch and bureaucracy;

“Unfortuately we needed to complete one full year at least, January to January, get it one under our belt then we hope to tackle the applications and funding opportunities out there. Sportsmatch, for example, won’t be considering anything until April 2010, funding up until then has been closed” Mark explains.

… which leads us rather neatly to both the Wessex League’s greatest asset but big financial drain: Barnsfield Heath.

“There’s no greater off road circuit in the country.” Dan Lloyd says about it and, having been lost to the cycling community in 2005, its return at all is largely due to the efforts of Don, Mark and others.

“Barnsfield has consumed a huge amount of time.” He explains. “The number of meetings we’ve had at QinetiQ, the number of meetings we’ve had at the site. It’s a big, big company and they run the show from the criteria of the site being a profit-making asset and if you’re going to go about hiring it you have to comply with this, this and this and at these charges. But you can wrangle things and get the compliance and sort something out so there’s some racing there. If you hired it out on a commercial basis then the riders would be paying £30 or more a kick off without a doubt.”

“Probably more than that.” Mark insists. “If you were paying the commercial rate they first come up with it would have been more than that. It’s just wasn’t viable run as a British Cycling circuit race.”

“It was a staggering amount of money if we compare it to regular BC circuit or road race entry fees.” Continues Don. “Having said all this at the moment we’ve got the best deal that we can possibly get, unless there’s some massive change with QinetiQ. QinetiQ have actually been very good with us. They don’t make any money from our activities but in return they’re after some positive exposure from our cycling promotions and activities”

The good news for everyone is that racing at Barnsfield will continue in 2010, but will need to be supported.

“If you look just at Barnsfield overall we were in deficit however the first few events were okay, it was just the numbers went down after the Tour de France. The numbers dropped off but they didn’t come back again. Consequently, the Barnsfield races didn’t do well over all.” Says Don

and Mark adds;

“We’ve also got the problem of the football World Cup this year so there’s not going to be any racing in the evenings during those periods.”

Both acknowledge that, cost aside, organising races at Barnsfield is a great deal easier than organising a road race with its lead cars, motorbike and flag marshals. Indeed, many among us remember the good old days of £5 entry fees, 80 rider fields and Pete Wilson as the solitary official. These days, sadly, are long gone.

“We would put on TLI races at Barnsfield. Everybody thinks that we’re in love with the BC but we’re not but [QinetiQ] will not have it because of the way the TLI insurance structure is. We had to get BC to change their insurance specifically because of Barnsfield” Says Don.

But perhaps it would be best to concentrate less on what we had then and more on what we have now. The state of racing in the region at the present moment is not in any way unhealthy.

“I’ve always felt that this area should have more racing.” Says Don. “And I got very attracted to leagues and the whole thought process behind them if you put the right sort of races on, challenging races, and don’t be soft about it then yes you’ve got to put races on that people can cope with but there needs to be some sort of challenge on the way rather than the easy options all the time. We all think of the Purbecks ‘Oh they’re crippling hills’ but, look on the map and we’re not the Pennines. We’re not even in that league. I tell you what; if this area was pan flat and the only blip in the area was somewhere like Colehill then people would say ‘my god, you can’t put a race up there…’. It’s just the nature of things; you just have to rise above that and design courses. We’ve got the courses we’ve got but my mind is full of courses around the area. You think ‘this is suited to 3rds 4ths or this is suited to middle categories or this has got to be for elites and so on’. If we had a hundred elite riders locally then you could put a hundred elite riders on the Holt or the Woodlands course and have a fantastic race because they have that core number of riders going that fast around them. But if you get a field of 60 or 80 riders and 10 are elite category and a further 10 are first category and the rest are 3rds and 4ths, yes you’d get a good race but it’ll split in two.

With the league, the idea was that the core rider base would steadily improve and it was here to improve everyone’s riding capabilities so that they can achieve the best that they can do out of their cycling careers. If it’s a stepping stone to something big then that’s great and if it’s the best they can achieve or want to achieve around their life and their family [commitments] then that’s great too but if the races aren’t there then riders would be forced into having to travel miles all over the show and that wears out the enthusiasm to race doesn’t it?”

With a dozen or more races within riding distance of Poole and Bournemouth and many more a short drive away, travel is one thing that isn’t an issue. And, while everyone is encouraged to step up and help out should they feel they want to, all of Don and Mark’s efforts leave us with the comparatively easy task of turning up and riding. Just as soon as we’ve lost those winter kilos.