Sadly after 5 glorious months of Cyclocross racing, it’s now all over until September. The last of the winter ‘Cross’ races have all been concluded, the Eastern League Relays took place yesterday, which have been superbly documented by Stephen Brook and the last race of the Leicestershire league events also took place in the grounds of the Motor Racing circuit, Mallory Park.
Karl Hale, Nick Rush and Peter Golding all decided to join the Leicestershire League for this season, in addition to our own Eastern one. The benefits of that was, access to 7 additional races within easy reach along the A14, and only one of those clashed with our own fixtures, apart from yesterday. For this the final race of the season the 3 Amigo’s were chauffeur driven by Sara Hale, who is also Chief Supporter and Photographer, sadly as the venue is a Motor Racing Circuit, they do not allow Dogs, so Teresa Rush and Hugo stayed at home.
It was a bitterly cold day, amplified by the North Easterly wind and as the circuit is on a hillside, there was little escape from the windchill. We were told that the course was designed so that there would be little need of a spare bike, yer right ! As we approached the venue, we could see the bikes from the earlier races being transported home, well, when I say ‘bikes’, I should have said “mud covered bikes!”
Once we arrived and availed ourselves of the excellent facilities, there was just time to get a sighting lap in before the call up for gridding. That lap confirmed everything that Megan Free had told us whilst we were getting ready, Megan had just finished a fantastic 7th Senior in the Ladies race as we were arriving, so she was a great source of information. Reporting that there was mud and to use Stephen Brooks’ excellent phrase, some skiddy and gloopy! There was also some very soggy ground, which sucked your wheels in, slippy, slimy off-camber traverses, steep drops and it wouldn’t be a Leicestershire league race without some single track through the woods!
The Leicestershire League end of season points are tallied by adding your best 5 races, so this last race was an opportunity to improve your total by scoring more than your previous low result. Megan hadn’t joined the league, but would have finished high up had she done so, as would Kieran Jarvis who won the Senior Men’s event on the day, also worth mentioning was Matt Webber who made the journey across from seeing family in Rutland and dominated the V50/60 race, having finished top of the V50 standings in the Eastern League.
Meanwhile Peter, Karl and Nick were having their own battles with the rest of the competitors, the course and the conditions, one thing they were all agreed on, was that the course and the race was a fitting way to end the season. Peter finished 15th overall and 3rd V60, Karl 35th V50 and Nick finished 12th in the V60 category, scoring 4 more points than his previous lowest score. Meaning that if we’ve got our maths right, Karl completed every race in the league and finished 23rd, Peter and Nick both rode in 6 events and finished 5th and 9th respectively, great achievements one and all.
We will certainly be joining the League again next season and if any one out there is thinking of racing in the Leicestershire events, it’s worth joining, because if you don’t, even a World Champion Dave McMullen had to start at the back !
A massive thank you to Sara for all her support, to Megan and her family, who once Megan had finished her race, were in the pits supporting others, that’s what the ‘Cross Family’ is all about.
So that’s the season over, the Wheelers have raced, up, down and across the country in several leagues, including the London, Central, Leicestershire, North East and the Eastern, they’ve entered the National Trophy events and the World Masters in Germany. So come and join the Wheelers Cross Team, let’s have more of our Club Members in what is becoming an Iconic Kit on start grids across the country.
End of season Eastern League standings
The Eastern Cyclocross League attracts teams and individuals from near and far, it encompasses Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex with reach into Greater London, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, a vast area.
In the 2024/25 season there were 33 registered teams, 10 of those hosted races. The league points are accumulated across all categories, so to come out top at the end of the season, a club needs racers from the youngest to oldest in the male and female categories. Whilst the Wheelers have probably the largest percentage of ‘Older’ riders in the league, we lack those from the youngest and female spectrums.
However I am delighted to report that our Club finished 5th across the season with a grand total of 523 points from a possible maximum of 600, the total is formed by the Clubs 6 best scores, we averaged 82 points, but our best was the 100 that we accumulated from the last event at Milton. So a huge thank you to everyone who took part in any of the races, I must add at this point, that each individual must personally register with the league, so for those Club Members who took part without registering, thank you, your presence is very much appreciated, Sara Hale, Cath Chapman, Janet Hardiker and Nick Gilford, the more Wheelers in Club colours on the start line, the better.
Individually there were some outstanding performances. Sam Brook had a fantastic season as a first year Junior, winning the last race and finishing 3rd overall. Megan Free, put a season marred by illness in the early part behind her to also finish 3rd in the Senior Woman. In the Vet 50 Category there were a total of 91 riders who registered with the league, making it the single most popular Class. Our team were consistent all season, Simon Christie raced all 10 Rounds and led the team home almost every time and finished 11th overall, next came Stephen Brook in 18th, Iain Milligan in his first season for Wheelers, also took part in every race and was 29th and Karl Hale finished 35th. It was great to see Jason Fowler and Kevin Burton on the grid in a couple of races, they finished 79th and 81st, we hope to see more of them next season.
In the Vet 60 standings Paul Watson had a superb winter, winning 3 races to finish 2nd overall, Peter Golding was 5th, Nick Rush was 15th saving his best race for the last one, Will Tate was 18th, but took the prize for the biggest smile, Paul Chapman was one place behind in 19th and Robert Duncombe was 27th of the 37 riders who were registered with the league. Special mention must be made of Club Member Tony Read who raced in almost every round and had he been a registered league racer would undoubtedly have finished higher than 18th.
What a season we all had, entering races far and wide and cheered on by family and friends in all conditions, it really has been a magnificent team effort.