LWCC Crits Rd 3 and racing round-up

The third  and deciding round of Lewes Wanderers’ Criterium road races for 2023 was run on the balmy, breathless evening of Thursday 15th June with 32 racers taking to the start.  Sadly the lone representative of the host club - Simon Head - dropped his chain upon changing down as the field prepared for the first Prime Sprint at the end of the opening circuit and he was unable to regain contact.

Victor at that intermediate contest was series leader Chris Parsons-Green (Southborough & District Wheelers) who effectively wrapped up the Prime Sprints competition with two more sprints to go.  Runner-up was Christopher Scott (Le Col Race Team) with Charlie Burrell third.

Parsons-Green’s nearest challenger for the overall - Ben Tappenden (Precise Performance RT) - finished just behind him in sprint two relegating Scott to third, while San Benge (trainSharp) edged Tappenden and Parsons-Green in sprint three.

A lap later Scott was away with Mark Smith (Crawley Wheelers) the second place from Round 2.  Despite the combined efforts of the massed peloton giving chase they somehow stayed away for Scott to consign Smith to another narrow defeat, although Smith’s clubmate Darren Parker sprung from the bunch to join him on the podium.

Parsons-Green exercised his sprinting prowess to claim 4th, ahead of Torin Henderson (trainSharp), Tappenden, Steven Jack (VCGH), Benge and James Evans (VCGH).  Parsons-Green won the series overall with 149 points, from Tappenden (112) and Smith (90).

Lewes Wanderers also ran two 10-mile time-trials on the opening two Monday nights of June.  Chris Coxon (Brighton Mitre) was fastest of the eight competitors on the 5th with a time of 21 minutes and 40 seconds. Runner-up and fastest Wanderer was Mike Hannay (26:11) just a couple of seconds ahead of fastest female Kate Parrish.  Graham Faultless (26:57) took 4th with Peter Baker (28:02) 6th.  Jonathan Sweet was 7th in 29:02 and Dave Beale (30:19) completed the results.

A week later the spoils were claimed by Gavin Richards (23:29), just ahead of fastest female Kate Mankelow (23:50) and Darren Haynes (24:11).  Mike Hannay improved by over a minute to 25:09, but had to settle for 4th, ahead of Peter Baker (25:50) who was the only competitor to ride fixed-wheel and thus took the Club Trophy.  Dave Beale (29:38) was 6th and Adrian Hills finished in 33:55.

Gina Boakes by Rob Flinn

Kate and Peter were back in action on Thursday 15th June as Eastbourne Rovers held their own event on the same A22-based course.  Kate improved by 2 seconds to 23:38 to take 4th overall and fastest of the trio of female entrants.  Peter recorded 29:16 to place 14th from 15 overall and 5th of the half-dozen riders on road bikes.

Round 9 of the Sussex Cycle Racing League was held at Preston Park outdoor velodrome on the evening of Wednesday 14th of June and took the form of an omnium with each event counting towards an overall competition.  Gina Boakes was one of seven ladies to compete against each other for the prizes.  She was 3rd in the 6-lap Scratch Race, 5th in the 6-lap Derny Race, 3rd again in the 5-lap Elimination and 4th in the 6-lap Points Race to finish 4th overall.