Mercia CC-Lloyds Cycles Report 04.10.18

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Mercia CC-Lloyds Cycles report 04.10.18

Warm, bright autumnal sunshine greeted the riders at Alfreton Park for Round 3 of the Forme – Nott’s Derby Cyclo-Cross League, hosted by Belper CC. The venue has been used for a number of years and this years course changes proved popular with most riders with a double back on the banking needing a particularly hard push on the pedals. The dry conditions made for fast racing in all classes.

In the Under 12 class Mercia CC-Lloyds Cycles riders Daniel Ward and Sam Parker had good races with both riders producing consistent lap times. Ward stayed with the leading group of riders until slipping back in the latter stages of the race.  7^th place was a good finish for him with only a slight improvement required to take him much further up the leader board. Parker continues to improve and having missed the previous week’s race was gridded down the large field of entrants. He worked his way through the riders and crossed the line in 14^th place. The winner was series leader, George Cooper of Sherwood Pines Cycles Forme.

Mercia’s Julie Tipper again put in a strong ride beating many younger riders to finish in 4th place in the Ladies V50 class. As she gets more used to the challenges and particularly the technical sections of Cyclo-cross racing her results will continue to improve. The winner was Tracey Fletcher of Team Empella Cyclo-Cross.com.

In the Veteran men’s class another packed race with 150 riders saw some fast competitive riding. Pascal Arnoux of Zepnat.com RT Lazer Helmets improved on his previous week’s race when he finished in 2^nd position in the V55 class behind winner Mick Davies of Pedal Power Loughborough. Recovering from illness, Steve Herriman of Mercia CC-Lloyds Cycles had a solid race with good lap times and finished in 32^nd place, Chris Taylor of Shibden CC taking the win in the V50 class.  A series of mechanical problems slowed Adrian Waters of Mercia CC-Lloyds Cycles mid race but a strong last lap allowed him to take 2nd place in the V70 event behind winner Pete Mooney of Rugby Velo.

Daniel Ward continued his usual heavy weekend of racing, riding in Round 4 of the Ridley Lazer West Midlands Cyclo-Cross League event at Shrewsbury Sports Village, organised by Mid-Shropshire Wheelers. He was not put off by the long journey as he had his best result of the season so far when narrowly missing a podium place and finishing in 4^th place. Consistent rider, George Cooper was the winner.