It was a clean sweep for the Towler brothers in this years Mildenhall Cycling Club Cyclo-Cross Championship.

In the under 18's section Jake was the very comfortable winner, with his nearest rival, Ryan Skeats finishing a lap behind. There was then another lap to Callum Mitchell-Fuller and Josh Murad.

Eleven-year-old Alexander Robb and his younger brother Francis (7) deserve special praise, as they both struggled with leaves and mud clogging their wheels from the wooden section of the mixed course.

Despite the overnight heavy rain and strong winds that affected many parts of the UK, the course was largely unaffected with the wind dropping dramatically by the start of the racing. There were a few slippery tree roots to contend with and a small log jump, but most riders were hopping over these obstacles. The grass sections were damp but after a few laps had settled nicely and were running quite fast.

While Jake's older brother, Alan, saw off the challenge of David (Dad of Alexander and Francis) Robb and Martin Skeats in the Seniors category.

Results:

Keith Richardson took part in this weekend's Hemel Hempstead CC Cyclo Cross.

The Central League round 3 event attracted over 130 starters in the senior event. The Mildenhall rider finished in 105th position.

One of the Club's newer members, Lee Woodcock took part in his second Dusk till Dawn race as a solo rider in his work team colours of Bike Art.

Unlike last year there was no rain on the night, but the wet weather over the previous nights meant a muddy start to the race, with a total 500 entrants amongst the categories, including 150 solo male entries.

Lee started near the rear of the field as they set off for just over a mile formation lap but as the race proper started, he was well towards the head of the pack. The ten-mile laps soon spread the riders with teams sprinting whilst the solo riders paced themselves to last through the 12 hours.

Two- laps in and the mud was clogging up Lee's rear brake so that was swiftly removed in a speedy pit stop. A further lap in and the cassette and chain were changed dropping him to 16th position but from there on, the bike took everything 12 hours of foggy muddy racing could throw at it.

Lee rode really consistent and gradually moved back up the placings into his target area of top 10. He had obviously learnt a lot from last years race and was still in really good shape as the race drew towards a close he decided to go flat out and get in a 13th lap which meant he secured 7th place.

Next years date is now penciled on the calendar!

Fourteen year old Jake Towler astounded everybody at Sunday's Off-Road Championship - the final round of the Mildenhall Club's season long competition.

He not only won the Under 18's race with ease, powering round seven laps of the one-mile circuit in 34 minutes 44 seconds, lapping all but one rider, Ryan Skeats. But he then amazingly competed in the Over 18's race.

Not sufficient with just completing this longer race of 10-laps, he took on the men finishing just over two minutes behind the winner. Matthew Mantle and Pete Clements had been tussling for the lead throughout the race, with Mantle just getting the upper hand on the final lap to finish one second in front.

Jake even managed to beat his 26 year-old brother Alan into fourth place!

Mandy Burchett was the quickest round of the Ladies, who raced at the same time as the Under 18's.

An additional feature of these results are the split lap times produced by the Race Programme, written by Matthew Mantle, which can be seen below.

Keith Richardson, who lives near Leighton Buzzard, has been competing in local Hill Climbs.

Having been forced to retire from the Leighton Buzzard Road Race (Mentmore/Cheddington/Ledburn circuit) on Saturday with a puncture with just one lap to go, he tackled not one but three Hill Climbs the following day. About the Road-Race Keith later said "It was quicker for me to ride the one and a half miles back home on a flat tyre, than to get a spare then ride back to the event head quarters."

First up was the Hemel Hempstead event in the morning on Ivinghoe beacon. It was a foggy morning which reduced visibility down to 10 meters in places, up the climb. Keith stopped the clock in a time of 6 minutes 45 seconds.

The fog had cleared in time for the Tring Velo Hill Climb on the Krong at lunch time, making it more pleasant. Keith's time was 3minutes 30seconds and then in their event on Aston Hill in the afternoon, he recorded 7 minutes 1 second.

The fourth round of the Eastern Cyclo-Cross League took place around Knights Templar Sports Centre playing fields at Baldock. It was the first outing for Mildenhall riders this season, as well as Mandy Burchett as Commissaire & Diane Mantle as Youth Race PDA Operator. The weather was sunny & breezy & the ground was dry & grippy - most un-cyclo-cross-like!

Colin Mantle rode in the U12s race and made a good start from the second row. He stayed close to an older rider Jack Parish (Ipswich BC) who he often beat last season when he was an U10 rider, but just couldn't hold on to the end. He was lapped towards the finish by the dueling leaders and came a very good 12th in a field of 40.

Adam Gough took part in the 30 minute Youth race. He ended up in a gap on his own with 30 seconds either side to the next competitors. He did very well to finish 14th out of 30+ riders.

Matthew Mantle was back in the Elite Vets (as the Vets is oversubscribed), racing for an hour with the Seniors & Juniors. After a year of cancelled MTB racing following a broken collarbone in a circuit race in May he is starting to get back some fitness. He was surprised to be gridded (based on last year's results when there were fewer competitors!) and relieved to stay upright after the usual manic start line sprint. After a steady ride he was lapped twice by the leaders (including the National Junior Champion Hugo Robinson) and finished a tired 56th out of 67 starters.

Having 3+ riders meant we earned points for the League Club results too. Looking forwards to the next event...

Matthew Mantle

For the full results click here

Had Josh Murad and Lee Woodcock not been competing in the Nuclear Blast racing at Kelveden Hatch on Sunday, there would have been even more members on top of the largest ever field for a Club Off-Road Championship!

Eleven year old Josh rode his first ever one-hour mountain bike race. He took an early lead including catching and overtaking quite a number of the two and four hour riders who had set off ten minutes earlier. In the second lap Josh was overtaken by the eventual winner on one of the rougher sections, but held on well to finish second with a massive sprint finish to bring home his first cycling medal.

For Lee, it was his first attempt at a longer race, racing for four hours instead of his more usual two-hour event. He set off strongly and despite coming off twice in the first lap was holding his own in 10th position. As the race progressed Lee encountered technical problems with a loose rear wheel which looked like it could bring an early end to his race. 

But he finished, covering a total of 11 laps and despite feeling that the race hadn't gone too well for him he finished in a very respectable 6th position. The circuit was a challenging 4 mile loop with many technical twists and turns over obstacles, short ups and downs and all sorts of surface including a short up-stream section offering a welcome chance to cool down!

The event was held in conjunction with Adventure Race Essex and provided a great opportunity to try out some more challenging terrain.

Matthew Skeats fought off the challenge of Adam Godwin to come home first in the senior section of the penultimate round of Mildenhall CC's Off-Road Championship.

Godwin, who pushed Skeats hard all the way, rides for Timbers MTB and was one of a number of their riders competing in this Inter-Club event. Third was Pete Clements, who had split loyalties as he's a member of both Clubs, although opted to ride in Mildenhall's colours.

In the Juniors section Jake Towler powered round the near mile course, lapping all his club-mates and was so close to lapping the fastest Lady Mandy Burchett, who were racing at the same time!

Calum Mitchell-Fuller and Francis Robb were both riding their first event for the Club only having recently joined. They did very well to finish forth and fifth respectively.

Results:

Juniors

1. Jake Towler
2. Ryan Skeats
3. Colin Mantle
4. Calum Mitchell-Fuller
5. Francis Robb
6. Levi Towler

Ladies

1. Mandy Burchett
2. Diane Mantle
3. Jean Poole
4. Julie Wright
5. Viv Bowers

Seniors

1. Matthew Skeats (MCC)
2. Adam Baker (Timbers)
3. Pete Clements (MCC)
4. Matthew Mantle (MCC)
5. Tim Stevens (Timbers)
6. Alan Towler (MCC)
7. David Robb (MCC)
8. Harvey Wright (MCC)
9. Martin Skeats (MCC)
10. Moe Monaghan  (Timbers)
11. Barry Archer (MCC)
12. Dave Bowers (MCC)
13. Mark Burchett (MCC)
14. Max Dorling (MCC)
15. Simon Booth (Timbers)

Results:

1. Lee Woodcock 29m 10s
2. Matt Skeats 35m 10s
3. Alan Towler 35m 46s
4. Martin Skeats 37m 57s
5. Barry Archer 39m 34s
6. Ryan Skeats 39m 37s
7. Jake Towler 40m 34s
8. Josh Murad 41m 48s
9. Wendy Dorling 17m 35s (Short Lap)

Results:

Juniors

1. Ryan Skeats
2. Jake Towler
3. Colin Mantle
4. Josh Murad
5. Jack Tuffs
6. Levi Towler

Ladies

1. Mandy Burchett
2. Diane Mantle
3. Viv Bowers

Seniors

1. Pete Clements
2. Matthew Skeats
3. Matthew Mantle
4. Alan Towler
5. Martin Skeats
6. Barry Archer
7. Mark Burchett
8. Max Dorling
9. Dave Bowers

After her heart-wrenching disqualification in the Women's Olympic Team Sprint yesterday, Victoria Pendleton stormed to victory in tonight's Women's Keirin to deservedly win the Gold medal.

She was roared on by members of Mildenhall Cycling Club at their Wamil Way clubroom, who were rewarded with an imperious display of track riding from their 31-year-old Honorary Golden Member.

Club Chairman, Mark Burchett, said "We are extremely proud of what Victoria has achieved over her career as probably the best Woman Cyclist this country has ever produced. And even if she doesn't win Gold in the her specialist discipline of the Women's Sprint, to take the Gold medal in the Keirin is the perfect way to end her reign"

"But I'm very confident she'll produce the goods in the Sprint too! To go and win the sprint gold will be the crowing glory and to retire at that level on that note - you can't write that sort of script." he added.

For Club members, there are more pictures on our facebook site.

Mildenhall time-triallist, Keith Richardson, has found himself having to pre-enter a local Cycling Club's Club event!

He says "These evening 10’s have been getting full fields up to their limit for each week, which resulted in riders having to pre enter. I've never known a club evening 10 to have a start sheet issued before the event with reserves. Some riders have been doing 19 minute 10’s each week and with the course record at 18m 47s, it's easy to see why riders have been coming some distance to ride."

His recent results, from the VC10 Evening 10 league, held on the F11/10 course (Tring/Aston Clinton bypass) have been;

Round 6       was a 25 on the H25/4 (on the Wendover Bypass) I punctured riding out to the event so I was a DNS  

Round 7       cancelled due to adverse weather.

Round 8       24.31

Round 9       24.15

Round 10     24.32

On a warm & sunny Friday evening after a day of torrential rain, two Mildenhall riders, Pete Clements & Colin Mantle, tackled the Gas Hill Gasp, writes Matthew Mantle.

The 300m long climb from Riverside, up Gas Hill in Norwich starts at a ‘gentle’ 10% slope, rising to around 20%. There were about 80 competitors riding in heats of four at a time. It was not without incident – some riders failed to reach the top due to shoes coming out of pedal clips, broken chains & back wheels popping out!

Pete had practiced riding the hill a couple of weeks previously, so he knew what to expect, but was still nervous of being in the very first heat. He stuck to his plan of spinning a low gear & remaining in the saddle all the way up – and came 1st in the heat! His second run was against much stiffer competition, the fastest riders from the other heats. After a slow start he chased hard but just couldn't catch them. Unfortunately, he didn’t get through to the next round, but really enjoyed the event.

Colin took part last year & came 4th in the U12's category.. This year there were 6 children riding in 2 heats. In his first heat, Colin finished just behind an 11-year-old and was faster than the 2nd placed rider in the other heat. This put him into the final against the boy who beat him & another 11-year-old. They were too strong but Colin kept chasing all the way and finished 3rd overall – one place better than last year!

It was a great event & real challenge. The variety of riding styles provided good entertainment for the many spectators who lined the hill & enthusiastically cheered everyone all the way to the top.