WXCRL Nick Bateson Memorial Road Race Movie

Results for Sunday’s race are now online on Entryweb. Thank you to the Poole Wheelers for your excellent support and enthusiasm. If your club or team want to promote races – just like the Poole Wheelers – you should get in touch with us and run it as a part of the Wessex Cycle Racing League, go on you know you want to!

Go to our WXCRL You Tube Channel to see more videos like this.

WXCRL Nick Bateson Memorial Road Race 27/06/2010

Under blue skies and a hot sun, Andrew Boyd of CC Weymouth took a narrow win in the Nick Bateson Memorial Road Race, a Regional B race for 3^rd and 4th cat riders over 70km. It was, he claimed, only his second ever race although it should be mentioned that by this he meant second ever British Cycling race, with Mr Boyd boasting a pedigree as a serious MTB contender and several season’s experience gleaned mixing it at the front of TLI crits.

Organising club Poole Wheelers had pooled a healthy supply of marshals massed around the 15 mile ‘sporting’ course, although it did seem that that there was no one left in the club to actually enter and ride in the race. There had been some controversy after two cattle grids had been installed over the winter but the general consensus was that, if the testers can handle them on their tri-bars then there was no way the roadies could pull out without a serious loss of face. The course (P471c) is used for an evening TT by local club Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers and has a fairly serious hill consisting of three separate climbs, rising in steepness, joined by two false flats. There was also a long, twisting descent (over the cattle grid) and a few long, windy, drags to catch out the unwary.

45 riders took the start, in temperatures that would be reaching 35 degrees before the day was out and from early on a pattern formed, as the bunch stayed largely together, eyeing each other.

‘There were lots of good riders.’ Andrew Boyd said afterwards. ‘No one had the legs to get away and anyone who did got chased down, so it seemed best to wait for the sprint.’

Rupert Silman agreed;

‘At Worgret [The Portland Port And Lloyd Coward Memorial Race] people were in teams helping each other out but here everyone was working for themselves.’

Which is not to say that people didn’t try. James Stratton of London Dynamo, presumably wanting to make the most of his race after coming all this way, got himself a small gap but was caught before the end of the first lap. The ‘big’ hill saw plenty of breakaway attempts but little success, with the field strung out but coming back together on the flatter sections. A kilometre into the second lap, Craig Bellew of Team Certini attacked just past the Cross Keys pub and pulled out a 45 second lead on the Horton Road. However, by the time the race passed Witchampton, the bunch had him very much in their sights and he was caught by the third and final turn towards Furzehill.

Meanwhile, back in the bunch, Oliver Hitchings of Sotonia CC had lost his front wheel on gravel on the Furzehill turning, suffering gravel rash and a slightly destroyed ergo lever. Similarly, two riders had touched wheels and gone down and the Three Legged Cross turn and the riders were not through with crashing yet:

‘I was moving up the bunch ready for the last hill.’ Said Rupert Silman of Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers, who had been holding himself back all race for a dig up the fiendishly steep hill [??? – Mark] to the finish line. ‘Somebody clipped my wheel. I held it but over corrected and went on to the gravel.’

Race bikes don’t handle well on roadside verges and Rupert duly became the final entry in the races’ incident book.

The bunch carried on without him, with Andrew Boyd and James Wilson of Newbury Road Club fighting it out for the win. The spoils went to the local boy (assuming that you consider Dorchester ‘local’) after the Wessex League’s second photo finish in a week.

Steve Moss of Bournemouth Arrow got third ahead of Jonathan Ellis of Team Certini with recent VC Raphael recruit Rob Wood fifth, Mark Dolan of Mid Devon CC sixth and Adam Buckland of Banjo Cycles seventh. The two escapees salvaged their race with an eighth place for James Stratton of London Dynamo and ninth for Craig Bellow of Team Certini.

‘It a good race for a skinny little guy.’ Joked Andrew Boyd afterwards, before nearly making off with the winners trophy before it had been properly presented to him.

Meanwhile, with the England-Germany game about to start, the riders cleared out of the HQ within minutes. Refreshments had been laid on but plenty were left over and will be available again at Dr Boyd’s regular stomping ground at Moreton on Thursday. Official results (for this race) should be appearing here and the next Wessex League round will be a few miles up country at Woodlands on Saturday 10^th July. This will be a proper grown up race where we let 2^nd cats come along to play. Oh and it’s a lot flatter. See you there.

Photos by Graham Robins