Cyclo-cross and Circuit of Chailey
Round 2 of the Challenge Tyres London & South East Cyclo-cross League, incorporating the 2nd Round of the Aeight Bike Co Sussex League took place in the wooded and hilly grounds of Pippingford Manor Park on Sunday 17th September. After a fine morning a sharp downpour just in time for the ladies race left the course slick and slightly rutted in time for the quartet of Lewes Wanderers to be called to the grid. Based on previous results Dan Street found himself on the third row in the race for men over 50. A few rows back and alongside one another were Darren Haynes and Paget Cohen, with Stephen Burgess, competing on his mountain bike among the over-60s not far behind amid a field of sixty racers.
Dan Street by Pip Jones
Dan put in a storming first lap to gain four places and hold 7th place at the end of the opening circuit. He improved to sixth on the third tour and held that place to the chequered flag to record his best ever result at this level. Darren made perhaps an even better start to rocket up to 16th place. He lost a place on lap 3, but fought back the next time around, only to be passed again on the penultimate lap. 17th place was, like Dan, his best result in this competition.
As Darren went forward Paget found himself in 37th place early on lap 2, when his front tyre rolled off the rim. He avoided crashing, but had half a lap on foot to get back to the pits and replace the wheel. By which time he was a lap down and dead last. He rejoined the fray and with no further incident managed to avoid being lapped again and made up one position to place 42nd from 43 finishers, with two failing to complete the race. From overtaking Paget on that eventful first circuit and finding himself 10th in his age category Stephen put in five highly consistent laps to end the race in 11th place out of the 15 to finish.
That same morning Mike Hannay was the lone Wanderer competing in the Veteran Time Trials Association 25-mile event. His time of 1 hour 3 minutes and 48 seconds placed him 25th out of 25 with one non-finisher.
The last of Lewes Wanderers’ time-trials for the year took place early the following Sunday 24th September. This 17.58-mile test takes place on a lumpy course with some steep climbs. The cool of an 8am start coupled with a stiff headwind on the longest exposed section of the circuit perhaps accounted for the lack of fast times.
Third overall and fastest from the host club was Dan Street in 45 minutes and 54 seconds. Behind him Gavin Richards took 4th with 47:09, Joe Benians 5th (47:50), Peter Baker 6th (48:17) and event organiser Neil Edwards found time to pop in a 49:12 for 7th. Alex Steer (51:02) finished 9th at his first attempt at the event, Mike Hannay was 10th in 51:14, Barry Mitchell 12th with 53:51 on debut and Adrian Hills 14th in 1:18:39. Steve Barry’s effort was curtailed at roughly two-thirds distance by a puncture.
