Mercia Report 08-11-2015

Round 6 of the Notts & Derby Cyclo Cross League was held near the Ski slope in Swadlincote. The event was a joint promotion by the Mercia Lloyd’s CC and the South Pennine R C and organised by Mercia’s Justin Waters. There was an excellent number of 332 participants in all age groups. which included 2 World Champions and several National Champions. The recent rain made the course unforgiving and saw the riders tackling a mixed bag of flat open sections, wooded technical features and some greasy corners.

The first race was for the under 9’s on a flatter course with 47 riders from ages 3 to 9 years old . Six year old Sam Parker Mercia C. C. (Son of Oliver Parker) finished in 28th place in his first cyclo cross. The winner was Ryan Oldfield Redditch Road & Path Club).

The 3rd race was for the Veterans over 40 and over 50 years old. Three local riders competed in this race, with Phil Machin finishing in 35th place in the over 40’s, a good result for Phil considering his lack of races. Robert Wimble (Cadence Sport) finished in 8th place in the veterans over 40 and Pascal Arnoux (Cadence Sport) finished in 4th place in the veterans over 55. The Overall Veterans winner was Daniel Alexander (Zepnat RT GSG Clothing).

The last event of the day took place in bright sunshine and was a combined race of Seniors Juniors and Women, with the Juniors starting a minute behind the Seniors. Christian Aucote was always prominent and finished in a strong 11th place in the Seniors. Mercia’s Oliver Parker trying his hand at Cyclo Cross finished in 38th place also in the Seniors. Riding in the Juniors category, Joshua Waters (Sherwood Pines Cycles SRAM RT) and his brother Bailey (Mercia Lloyd’s C C) who was making a welcome return to racing after 2 years absence and suffering a badly broken leg in July. Joshua made a storming start and made easy work of the technical sections to quickly catch the tail end of the Seniors and by the end of the race had overtaken all but seven Seniors to finish first Junior. His brother Bailey also rode well to finish an excellent 7th placed Junior & a creditable 42nd place overall.