So I thought with so many of the Central CX riders jet setting across the UK and Europe I to thought I’d try and slip in a cheeky update on how everyone did (If I’ve missed you out please FB / Tweet / WP and let me know and I’ll edit it).
No witty shit box updates (that will be in Round 12 RJR) or team banter, just a micro-blog with some deets on the CX Superheros !!!
First up the Masters World Champs. Golders (Masters roving reporter) sent through the following “article:

Dan Connall – Corleys Cycles – 62
Mike Jackson – Luton CC – 44
Neil Ellison – DNF
Greg – Corleys Cycles – 24
Suzanne Golder – Team MK – 8th
Some pics below, the course looked absolutely brutal. We caught up with the winner at Oxford today and he said….on a lap lasting around 7m 30…..you were running 3m 30s !! Holy shit !!
Sand….sand….more sand….steep muddy climbs….steep muddy droppers….sand….steps….AWESOME effort to these superheroes !!!
REGIONALS
Now onto the Regionals, which for most saw a back to back race weekend, certainly a first for Kevvo & Tommo). With so many riders coming from far and wide within the Central CX League we have a number of different results from different leagues (apologies if I’ve got it wrong please let me know)
Now lets start with CENTRAL Region. It was held at Abingdon Barracks, and lucky for Kevvo and I we had raced the Summer Series with Take3Tri. Big shout out to Mark Harvey and his guys, they did a grand job with the course, it was definitely a course of 2 halves. Similar to Kettering yesterday, it sort of played to Kevvos and I’s strength as we come from the an MTB background (we only started to ride CX as we had pretty much won everything MTB related (thats a LIE).
We decided to arrive super early to grab a great spot for Team SD……they arrvied shortly after us in the Team Bus….
Steve P and Paul Buckley were inside, James Norris a few cars down……plus someone clearly locked in the attic of the bus for party pieces !!
Its good to see he’s a fully paid up member mind you.
Is that what is meant by “Grannies Tea Towel holder”
The coffee van was spectacular……
Back to the course….the first half of the course was through the grass field adjacent to the runway, it included lots of twisties and with the adhesion getting progressively worse as the race went on, staying in the vertical position was getting harder and harder. The second half of the course uses lots of small bomb holes, and again, the mud was pretty sticky by this point and this made for a pretty technical course, full focus was required to prevent you hitting the deck on the off camber / muddy sections. I got excited about the hurdles at one point, but then realised they were on the kids course !
Cheeky pre-race-gridding bants with Team SD:
Anyhow, first surprise of the day was the relatively above average gridding spot that Kevvo and I received. I was third row and Kevvo directly behind me. Second surprise of the day was the alarming amount of people who couldn’t actually make it to the start line without riding through the unbreakable tape…..you know who you are !
So, you know the drill, whistle goes, we offski. Now, brass instrument blowing again…cue fanfair….I had a blinder of a start….not entirely sure how, probably down to some kind of teleportation, I hit the first corner in 4th ! WTF…nose bleed started straight away, however the bonus was that I was OK on the twisties, so managed to keep this position for as many digital images from the spectating photographers as poss. I think I headed back on to the tarmac in 6th. I could see Kevvo on the twistys, also having a blinder…..Get in, I’m thinking; some local knowledge paying dividends for TeamVB. this could end well above average !
Once thrown out on a tarmac stint for around 50m, you then head down to enter the mini bomb hole fest. This part lasts for around 3 minutes, full of small off camber ups and downs, all super slippy, some little kickers, also some hurdles out near the tarmac where a bunch of yooofs were standing ready to throw some banter our way. Not sure how that went, as Kevvo did have a coming together with ankle bone +bike + hurdle …that must have attracted an “oooohhhh” as a minimum from said yoofs, it looked like a medical impossibility of how he managed to continue (seriously the smallest scuff I’ve ever seen !)
First incidental was relatively soon after entering the bumhole area. A rider with a stunning pink skin suit got caught up in the red tape on a slippy off camber…..tape wiped out his rear mech – spiel ist aus !! He threw about 5 super loud F8&Ks (potty mouth)……then literally launched his bike about 20 yards into a ditch !! Yikes…..must have still been bitter about my awesome start.
Then followed about 10 or so ups and down, all in their own right a bit of a handful as you really had to pick the right line, the final piece of the bumhole spat you out on a long stretch back to the tarmac…..this was generally the area where the fitties amongst us were gunning it to make up places. Mike Mulroy, off of ‘Here Come the Belgians’ was behind me at this point so I kindly waved him past – LIE !
Back on the grass field, there was a sand pit shortly after the entrance, then round to the start / finish timing mat, then to start it all again. Awesome course, really played on the CX skills. THUMBS UP EMOJI to Mark !
Kevvo suffered with flat on the last 2 laps where he lost 2 places…..gutted ! Those tubeless burping gremlins were out again but still finished like a trooper.
All positions are in age category:
40 – 45 James Norris – 9th
45 – 49 Mike Mulroy – 6th
40 – 45 Tommo – 12th
40-45 Kevvo – 15th
40-45 Julian Thrasher – 13th
40-45 Paul Buckley 17th
45-49 James S-B – 9th !!! Good work that man !!
Steve P had a puncture on lap 1 after a lightening quick first lap !!
We missed Michael Pattinson from recent tree / head / bike smash combo which took place at Kettering. Shame, you would’ve smashed it here !
SNR – Ross Gallacher – 25th (Always turns up in force representing LBRCC – good show that man !!)
SNR – Jacob Tresham – Corley Cycles – 7th
SNR – Kieran Jaret – RAF – 9th
SNR – Dan Brennan – LBRCC 12th
SNR – Leigh Smith – Equipe Velo – 13th
A shortage of pics from our race on the the day, obvs there was no Molli Keenor / KP / Gary Neeson. You will note new VB Hoody and matching BBH. Carbing up !
Proper arty that shit:
Elated from our final positioning, Kevvo and I stayed around to support with bants…..we weren’t going to until we saw TIMBAILEY in THE best skin suit EVER. Think Zoolander meets Hunger Games….I swear at one point he span round and he was on fire ! Luckily some foresight was pre-booked and Kevvo bought some Punk IPA.
So VET50 and the ladies were off next.
Another great turn out from Sam, Julia and Gwen from Team MK. The guys included TIMBAILEY, Boovy, Roy C and John Risby.
Results below in age group cat:
Roy C – Corleys- 3rd
Tim B – Team Corleys – 5th (flats / bike change last 2 laps I think)
Mark B – Corley Cycles – 1st (went through the entire pit of bikes – super unlucky)
John Risby – Team MK – 1st
WMN SNR – Julia – Team MK – 3rd
WMN SNR – Gwen – Team MK – 8th
WMN VET – Zoe Allsop – Lovelo – 1st
WMN VET – Sam – Team MK – 3rd
WMN VET – Sarah Cox – Bicester – 9th
WMN VET – Carol Matthews – Bicester – 10th
WMN VET – Wendy Rees – Bicester – 2nd
Some snaps to boot:
Managed to film these 2 superstars….Mark and TIMBAILEY. Skills on the hurdles. I think Tim took about 2 strides between them !!
Some other results just in from other regions:
Woodsy secured a solid 47th in the Eastern & South Eastern Region
John Cavill – 17th
Tony Marriott 19th
BOOOOM !!!! Good work fellas !
Results from Gaz in Scottish regionals representing Velobants. Now I knew off the bat this may not end that well….seeing as the Whatsapp group was getting progressively worse Sat night due to the amount of IPA / Red Win Gaz was consuming. His quote:
“Too much wine, too much breakfast meant almost spewing first 3 laps. Strong field. Finished 40th.”
Now to place this in some kind of realistic CX context, Gaz’s races are generally not like ours…..they are basically all mud fests ! You know its going to be tough when the email the day earlier to all riders actually details how difficult the ROADS getting to the event are to pass with snow !! Pics of the morning were basically showing people with shovels trying to find the course !! More to follow.
Some top quotes of the day for VB:
Managed to get the World Champion on Facebook Live…..I told him Kevvo was also a WC….he actually believed me for 3 seconds…..
Guy at finishing line “thing about CX racing is that its competitive where ever you are”…..
Steve P ref next years Worlds and transport via the SD Team Bus…”problem is lads you need a vehicle guaranteed to actually get us there”
Steve P – generally the best thing ever when he showed us pics of “Fat Steve”….thats all I have to say on the matter !
I shit you not this was him 3 years and about 5 stone ago !! He literally just Forest Gumped the crap out of his bike and nobody saw him for 6 months, now he’s the athletic adonis we all love #buff #6packinthevets
Ian T having a heart attack and quickly disappearing as we were handing up Punk IPA to passing riders.
Happy Birthday to Keeno: