The first race of the 2025/26 season was held in Springfield Park, Chelmsford last Sunday hosted by Chelmer CC. Of course for the music fans amongst you Chelmsford was also the venue for the ‘Radio 2 in the Park’ music festival over the same weekend, but there is no doubt that the most exciting event was the one in Springfield Park !
Russel Trilby and his team as always design a fantastic course around the football pitches, utilising every bank possible, two very long flights of steps and putting in at least 8 180° degree turns on every lap, we were blessed with very dry conditions, which gave us electrifyingly quick racing across all age groups, and the only thing to clean from the bikes was the dust.
It was wonderful to meet up with all of the ‘Crossers’ from across the region, most of whom none of us had seen since last January, the excitement of the first race was palpable, whilst chatting to our contemporaries during the warm up, trying to find out whether anyone had been racing, in Gravel or Summer Cross events and to determine what shape the other competitors where in, and inevitably as it’s cycling, who had turned up with new bikes or upgraded last seasons !
For those of us who help out with the ‘Judging’ there’s also the anxiety associated with remembering how the ‘tablet’ works and wondering whether you would be able to record all of numbers as they rush by each lap, it wouldn’t do to get the results wrong after all the effort the racers put in.
So to the racing; the first race with Wheelers involvement was the ‘Masters 50’ category (British Cycling have decided to change out Veteran for Master), which for those of you new to reading about CX, is a 40 minute race or there about for the leader, with those finishing on the same lap anything up to 9 minutes longer depending on the course, if you’re lapped by that leader, you will complete 1 lap less and so on, that way the races can be started on a tight schedule as the organisers know how long each race will take +/- a few minutes, rather than waiting for everyone to complete x number of laps.
In Wheelers colours on the start line were Stephen Brook, Simon Christie, Karl Hale and making his first appearance for a while Matt Shingleton. The first race of the season is always very much an unknown, in that, how has the close season gone, how much training did I fit in, how much training have my competitors done, what will my heart and legs feel like ? Needless to say, the Springfield course will soon let you know, as it’s probably the fastest start straight in the league and soon gets your heart rate through the roof, legs pumping, shoulders rubbing with fellow riders and elbows out. I was Judging on the finish line, so didn’t see much of the race, but I did see enough of the riders faces as the rode into the very strong wind, that it was tough. At the end of the 6 lap race, Simon finished 17th next came Stephen in 26th, Matt with the Yorkshire Dales in his legs (and heart) finished 38th and Karl who does so much for our ‘Cross’ community was 48th having been caught by the winner 25 seconds from the line, a fantastic first race effort from everyone.
Next up were the Masters 60+ riders who compete in the same race as the Masters 40, but start 2 minutes afterwards, this is to ensure that the 40’s have cleared the first ‘pinch points’ before the tail-enders are inevitably caught by the fast starting 60’s ! And Paul Watson is a very fast starter, he was never headed by his competitors, winning by over a minute and scything through the back of the 40’s field to finish 28th overall. Next was Pete Golding in 4th, then I must mention Martin Archer who is riding for the Army for one last season, but has joined the ‘Wheelers’ as Second Claim, good to have him with the team, he finished 8th, good to see Tony Read racing to 20th and Nick Rush only 2 places behind despite the long run ups, which do not suit him. And finally great to have Tony Whale racing, Tony has been to every Tuesday session, so it was great to have him on the start lane and for him to finish 26th.
Next up were the Ladies, who all race together whether a Junior or Master and it was wonderful to see 2 Wheelers on the start line, as Teresa Rush made her debut in a CX race to join Megan Free on the Grid. There were 2 sponsored riders in the race, who set a blistering pace from the off, the winner would have finished 8th against the men’s Master 40’s ! Megan finished 5th in the Senior Category, much more to come I’m sure and Teresa in her very first race finished with a beaming smile, realising that it wasn’t so bad and knowing what she needs to practice more of, oh and she won her age group, definitely more to come.
Sadly Sam Brook after an electric start and up with the best Juniors and Under 23’s for the first 2 laps had to pull out and DNF after the 5th one. I’m sure that Sam will come back fitter and stronger, he has so much talent for a 16 year old.
And of course it would be remiss of me not to mention the fantastic West Suffolk Wheelers supporters, who as always keep us going.
So that’s the first race ticked off, the next is Sunday 14th hosted by CC Hackney at Lambourne End in Essex, bring in the Sausage Sandwich !