Location: Southampton Sports Centre
Event: 29 December 2013
Jody Crawforth (Hargroves Cycles) was in scintillating form at the Southampton Sports Centre as he led from the front to take the win in the challenging conditions. The course soon cut up and made conditions slippery as the early morning hard frost gave way to a slushy surface.
Right from the start Jody pulled out a lead over Michael Cotty (Wheelbase Cannondale) with Jody’s team mates Stuart Bowers, Matt Macdonald and Matt Hargroves following along with Andy Hargroves (Felt Colbourne Hargroves RT) also in the mix on the first lap shake up.
Jody attacked the second lap and his lead at the end was 45secs over Cotty with Andy Hargroves a further 3secs behind. Bowers was at 1min 08secs. Next up was Matt Hargroves as Macdonald had a problem and pulled out. Chris Minter (PedalOn), Danny Bell (Ellmore Factory Racing) and James Cotty (I-RIDE.CO.UK) were all comfortably inside the top ten although they were all loosing time with three minutes covering the top eight riders.
By lap four Crawforth’s lead was hovering around one minute over Cotty with no other place changes taking place. It wasn’t until a couple of laps to go that Bowers managed to shake of Andy Hargroves and with nearly a minute between them the final order was sorted. The race order remained the same over laps six and seven and it was Jody who took the win by 2mins on the line.
Steve Davies (Hargroves Cycles) turned in a commanding race to win the combined vet/junior/women’s race from Sean Williams (Wightlink Offshore). Steve led the race from the start opening up a 34secs lead which turned into a minute forty seconds lead by lap two. Behind Williams was Keith Sheridan (Cotswold Veldrijden), Tim Hyde (GS Henley) and David Phillips (Cotswold Veldrijden).
While Davies was coasting around in the slippery conditions and Williams comfortable in second it was down the chasing pack to make up some time. Sheridan was nearly two minutes down on the leader and David Phillips was 2mins 30 behind. Next up was Pete Hutchinson (Cotswold Veldrijden) at 3mins 30 down.
These riders remained in their positions throughout the remainder of the race with the only two riders swapping places were Tim Costello (Southdown Velo) and Chris Hutchings (VC Venta) who seemed to be having a good tussle on their own until the ‘younger’ Venta rider managed to pull clear with a lap to go.
The youth race was won by Chris Rothwell (SCRA) although he made things difficult by coming off his bike three times on the tricky off camber corners once he had established his lead on lap two. Ed Gronbech (Oxford City RC) was the early leader and Elliot Lassiter (Cotswold Veldrijden) was a distant third after the opening laps. Charlie Cooper (Chapel Tri stars) was fourth, all be it a distant place and Angus Hawkins (PPV) fifth.
Provisional Results
Seniors
1 Jody Crawforth Hargroves Cycles 49:59
2 Michael Cotty Wheelbase Cannondale @ 2:00
3 Stuart Bowers Hargroves Cycles @ 2:29
4 Andy Hargroves Felt Colborne Hargroves RT @ 3:41
5 Matthew Hargroves Hargroves Cycles @ 6:19
6 Chris Minter Pedal On @ 6:53
7 Daniel Bell Ellmore Factory Racing
8 James Cotty I Ride.co.uk
9 Karl Norfolk Pedal On @ 1lap
10 Matthew Taylor Pedal On
Veterans:
1 Steve Davies Hargroves Cycles 38:20
2 Sean Williams Wightlink Offshore @ 2:00
3 Keith Sheridan Cotswold Veldrijden @ 2:12
4 Tim Hyde GS Henley @ 2:37
5 David Phillips Cotswold Veldrijden @ 4:06
Women: Tracey Cornell NHRC
Junior: Joe Andrews Fareham Wheelers
Youth
1 Christopher Rothwell SCRA 31:15
2 Edward Gronbech Oxford City RC @ 21sec
3 Elliott Lassiter Cotswold Veldrijden @ 3:00
4 Charlie Cooper Chapel Tri-Stars @ 3:58
5 Angus Hawkins PPV @ 4:13
Under 14 Girls
1 Alderney Baker Southdown Velo
2 Lorna Bowler Hillingdon Slip streamers
Under 14 Boys
1 Angus Hawkins PPV
2 Erin Baker Southdown Velo
Under 16 Girls
1 Emily Wadsworth Beeline Cycles
2 Rebecca Raybold Poole Wheelers
Under 16 Boys
1 Christopher Rothwell SCRA
2 Edward Gronbech Oxford City
3 Elliott Lassiter Cotswold Veldrijden
Please credit www.britishcycling.org.uk and link back if you use any of our race results.
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
