Club's Annual Hill Climb Championship

Max Pendleton is Mildenhall Cycling Club's 2008 Hill Climb Champion. He was the fastest club rider up Primrose Hill in Moulton on Sunday morning and broke the two minute barrier with a time of 1 minute 59.86 seconds

Pendleton, father of World and Olympic Women's Sprint Champion Victoria, is no stranger to one of the few hills in West Suffolk worthy of a Hill Climb Championship. He has been a previous record holder for the hill and as he admitted afterwards "I regularly used to ride inside 1 minute 40 seconds, although that was nearly 40 years ago!"

Keith Richardson, who had already ridden in West Suffolk Wheeler's Hill Climb at nearby Dalham the same morning, finished the climb in a very respectable 2 minutes 24.92 seconds.

Chairman Barry Archer, otherwise affectionately known as 'Sturmey', despite suffering from a heavy cold also competed. Although he was less than impressed with his time 3 minutes and 32.85 seconds he does deserve credit for not only taking part, but completing the deceptively difficult 936 yard climb!

The event was won, not by one of three joint promoting club's of Mildenhall, Newmarket Cycling & Triathlon Club and Ely & District CC, but Maldon and District CC! A large group of MAD CC members had joined the Mildenhall Club for a joint club-run out to the Hill Climb, with three of them even tackling Primrose Hill. Mark Beattie was by far the smoothest rider up the hill, even beating the experience Pendleton into second place overall with a time of 1 minutes 54.41 seconds!

Max - 'just off the pace'

Max Pendleton, father of Mildenhall CC honorary member World Champion Victoria, was just off the pace in the British National Masters Championships at the weekend.

He rode in all four events, three of which were championships for his 60-64 age group, these were 10k Scratch, the 2Km pursuit and the 10Km Points Race. In both the scratch and the points Max explained "I tried repeatedly to escape the bunch, but the flavour of racing at the indoor velodrome at Newport in South Wales was one where attack followed attack rather than the usual more lackadasical approach of previous years. Perhaps it was the effect of the 43 degree banking with its superfast wooden surface, perhaps the field had been caught out too many times by long breaks, either way all events seemed to be decided in bunch finishes." Pendleton's best in these events was 5th in the scratch and a bronze in the points. The pursuit was little better with Max posting 4th best time for his group.

The one non-championship event was an open Derny Paced event. In this race each of 8 riders have a small pacing motorcycle each and the event is decided on a scratch basis. Max said " I advised my pacer, George Gilbert of Welwyn Wheelers, that a steady race was what was required against much younger specialist riders. The pace gradually built up but the Gilbert / Pendleton combo were unable to make much impression on the younger riders, despite the last ten or so laps of the 250m track being covered at some 41mph!"

He summed the weekend, saying "A disappointing event where for the past 3 years I've returned with one or more National titles for his efforts."

Roundup of Letchworth Grass-Track meeting

The Gem Estate Management Sponsored grass track meeting at Fearnhill School at Letchworth produced some spirited racing on a track that was firm if a little damp.

The 400m track gave an ideal introduction to grass to a number of newcomers to the side of the sport that on many tracks is more akin to road racing than it is to track racing. Janet Birkmyre made the transition from road and track to grass look easy with a second to XRT Elmy Cycles team-mate Caroline Gammell in the ladies omnium with Amy Willoughby a close third, writes Max Pendleton

In the two national Grass League counting events the experienced grass riders as usual came out on top, in the short distance event Neil Withington riding for Anderson Racing from Carlisle took the win from Richand Lambert of Cottingham Coureurs with Welwyn's Phil Lisher a close third. The 8K that formed a part of the National Endurance League was a reverse of the top two places in the 800 with Lambert eventually riding clear of Withington and the rest of the bunch. There had been a number of attacks and the penultimate move saw Lambert and Withington away together, this was not a part of Lambert's plans and the field regrouped after a couple of laps. Lambert's key attack came with about 1600m to go and he quickly opened a material gap on the heavy surface, in the sprint for second place junior Tom Gosbee of Team Welwyn was narrowly beaten by Withington.

Grass Track Meeting Results
Under British Cycling Federation Rules

Ladies Omnium

1. Caroline Gammell - XRT Elmy Cycles
2. Janet Birkmyre - XRT Elmy Cycles
3. Amy Willoughby - Cottingham Coureurs
4. Karen Lifford - Team Nottingham

800m Scratch Final
Counting event for National Short Distance Grass League

1. Neil Withington - Anderson Racing
2. Richard Lambert - Cottingham Coureurs
3. Phil Lisher - Team Welwyn
4. Andrzej Bojarski - Hemel Hempstead CC
   

Handicap Non Qualifiers Unknown Distance

1. Neil Withington
2. Martin Smith - Chesterfield Coureurs
3. Simon Layfield - Team Welwyn

800m Handicap Final

1. Phil Lisher - - Team Welwyn
2. Matthew Fenton - Cottingham Coureurs
3. Andrzej Bojarski - Hemel Hempstead CC

Mens Devil Take the Hindmost

1. Dave Langlands Fenland Clarion
2. Martin Smith - Chesterfield Coureurs
3. Neil Withington - Anderson Racing

8KM Scratch
Counting event for National Grass Endurance League

1. Richard Lambert - Cottingham Coureurs
2. Neil Withington - Anderson Racing
3. Tom Gosbee Team Welwyn
4. Phil Lisher- Team Welwyn

Ladies and Vets Hare and Hounds

1. Richard Webster - Team Welwyn
2. Simon Layfield - Team Welwyn
3. Pete Whelan Plomesgate CC
   
   

Club honours its Champions

Mildenhall Cycling Club celebrated its top riders of 2007 on Sunday at its Annual Dinner and Prize Presentation.

The most prolific rider last year was Matt Cook, who almost needed the proverbial wheelbarrow to cart off all the trophies and awards he collected. The fifteen year-olds biggest achievement was in slicing one minute and one second off his personal best (PB) over 10 miles to record a time of just 23 minutes 39 seconds and in doing so, won the Dave Morley Cup for the fastest under 16.

The Thurston Community College student had his best year in cycling to date winning the Junior Club Super Champion, Junior Off-Road and Youth Cyclo-Cross titles. He won the Junior BAR (Best All Rounder) with a super-quick average of 23.81mph! Will Adams continues to chase Matt hard, which will help both improve their performances.

Will won the Junior Grass-Track Championship, held at last years Mildenhall Cycling Rally. While his younger brother Tom won the Most Improved Rider award.

The evergreen Adi Turner not surprisingly won both the Evening Time-Trial Series and the Evening Time-Trial Points Series, although third in both competitions was Matt Cook!

There was a special presentation to Matt's grandfather, Jim Staines, in recognition of his service to the Club over the last 25 years. During that time he has held many Club positions and helped some of the new younger members into the sport including Barry (Sturmey) Archer when he first joined Mildenhall CC in the 1980's. Now Sturmey is the Club's Chairman and took great pleasure in presenting Jim with an engraved tankard.

Held next door to the Cycling Club's headquarters in Wamil Way, in Mildenhall Cricket Club, members enjoyed a carvery lunch before 'Sturmey' was joined by honorary member John Freiyer to make the presentations. The chairman showed he is no slouch though, winning the prestigious Club Senior Super Champion trophy, which is awarded for competing in all aspects of the sport.

Click here for the full list of the 2007Award winners

Matt goes Dutch!

Matthew Cook, swapped English mud for Dutch modder last weekend, riding in the Heerlen International Cyclo-Cross against a quality filed which included the National Dutch Champion.

The 2.53 km course had just about everything, with tarmac, shale, sand, twists & turns over grassy fields and through woodland. It also included three hills to climb every lap, one that was rideable, one that had to be run up , while the other had 24 steps that had to be run up the associated downs were steep and difficult. Fortunately the weather was very kind with brilliant sunshine and the temperature an unseasonal 20 degrees centigrade.

Matthew had a good start, with the riders soon establishing a pattern with a group of four gaining a small lead on Matt's group of three, while the remaining riders stretched out behind the Mildenhall rider. As the pace and course began to take its toll on Matthew, he struggled to keep in touch with the other two riders in his group, suffering from the stitch. He did however, manage to maintain his seventh place until the end of the race that has been run off at twenty plus kilometres an hour!

End of Season Madison Cyclo-Cross

Mildenhall Cycling Club held the final round of the Eastern region Cyclo-Cross season, run as a Madison at their Club headquarters in Wamil Way, Mildenhall on Sunday afternoon. A warm spring like day greeted over forty riders. The Madison, so called as there were two riders in a team with each rider completing one alternate lap.

Nathan Miller and Hugo Robinson riding for 53-12/Ipswich B.C. dominated the main event from start to finish. In the runner up spot also riding for Ipswich B.C. were Adam Keer and Robert Green. Third place was taken by Shaun Aldous and Jen Ives riding for Inter Bike C.C.

Before the main event was the under 6 solo race. Winner of the event was Fraser Arden riding for Norwich ABC, ahead of Mildenhall CC's Matthew Waller. His elder sister Emily Waller, also riding for the Mildenhall Club finished in 3rd spot.

The under 12's race was won by James Jackson (Colchester Rovers). In second was Chelmer C.C. rider Tristan Price and third was Sean Dunlea riding for PCA Ciclos Uno.

Full Results:

Madison

1. Nathan Miller/Hugo Robinson - 53-12/Ipswich BC
2. Adam Keer/Robert Green - Ipswich BC
3. Shaun Aldous/Jen Ives - Interbike
4. Colin Newstead/Jim Hardwicke - Ipswich BC/Plomesgate
5. Luke Newby/Matt Nightingale - Diss CC
6. Rachel Moss/Carl Beech - Ford CC/Interbike
7. David Triggs/George Wood - Colchester Rov/Maldon & Dist
8. James Arden/Tim Butler - Norwich ABC/Ipswich BC
9. Jon Colbourne/Andrew Arden - Fat Birds/Norwich ABC
10. Kerrick Newstead/Triston Price - Ipswich BC/Chelmer CC
11. Susan Wood/Gary Wood - Maldon & Dist
12. Ian Newby/Andrew Waller - Diss CC/Mildenhall CC
13. Kieron Dunlea/Sean Dunlea - PCA Ciclos Uno
14. Jenny Hardwicke/Ellen Triggs - Plomesgate/Colchester Rov
15. Richard Jackson/James Jackson - Colchester Rov
16. Alwyn Newstead/Jack Hardwicke - Ipswich BC/Plomesgate
17. Nick Ainsworth/Emily Wilkins - Private/Chelmer
18. Susannah Rosenberg/Dave Copland - Ipswich BC
19. Henrietta Colbourne/Sophie Holmes - Fat Birds/Diss CC

Under 6

1. Fraser Arden - Norwich ABC
2. Matthew Waller - Mildenhall CC
3. Emily Waller - Mildenhall CC

Under 12

1. James Jackson - Colchester Rov
2. Tristan Price - Chelmer CC
3. Sean Dunlea - PCA Ciclos Uno
   DNF Jack Hardwicke Plomesgate