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Max Gear Magic in Women's Team Series
Story posted July 19; 2010;
Report by Jon Miles
Alli Holland, Max Gear RT won an exciting Women's Team Race Series event held on the wind swept tarmac at the Upavon Barracks beating her long time breakaway companion Elise Sherwell, Surrey League after an almost perfect demonstration of team riding by Max Gear RT.
A new event to the Team Series, Captain Darren Clarke organised a very good event for the Army CU on the airdrome perimeter of the Upavon Barracks. It was a perfect day for the many gliders mustered around the airdrome as the wind swept in across the empty space as the first event of a double was the Team Time Trial with teams covering 4 laps of the 2 mile circuit.
Photo: Barrie Austin
Always a difficult discipline as it is not practised much in this country but Max Gear were the strongest team and they came home in 18 minutes 23 seconds to take the first part of the day by 26 seconds from the Motorpoint team.
After a short rest to allow the handcycles to race, once the afternoon’s road race started, it was noticeable that the Max Gear RT were monitoring Motorpoint/Marshals Pasta as the team leading overall on Team Series points.
After two laps covered, a break went of four riders, Iona Sewell (Squadra Donne/Shutt Velo Rapide/Bikefood), Hannah Barnes (Motorpoint Marshals Pasta), Elise Sherwell and Alli Holland. They gradually built on this lead, at first by a handful of seconds until 18 miles when the break had a minute over the bunch - and it was here that Hannah Barnes punctured.
Slideshow of photos from Graham Robins
At 22 miles, Iona Sewell went back to the bunch and then with 30 miles covered, the leading duo of Holland and Sherwell had a massive 2 minutes 38 seconds as the bunch were policed by Max Gear RT. With the gap settled, two laps later Max Gear RT were at the front driving to dislodge riders from the bunch and with one lap remaining, the bunch had splintered in the wind as the two leaders approached the finish.
Up the incline they went and it was Ali Holland who sprinted in ahead of Sherwell to secure a very good win, sealing what was perhaps the best team tactics of the year by her Max Gear RT team mates. Ruby Miller (Motorpoint) led in what remained of the bunch for 3rd place with Maryka Sennema, (Surrey League) in 4th place.
The podium ceremony was excellent with flowers and champagne for the three riders and also for the winning team Max Gear RT. All the riders were complementary of the Upavon circuit and the race itself so congratulations to Darren Clarke.
RESULTS
TEAM TIME TRIAL RESULT
1. Max Gear RT 18 mins 23 secs
2. Motorpoint 18 mins 49 secs
3. Surrey League 19 mins 39 secs
4. Squadra Donne 20 mins 16 secs
5. PSUK 21 mins 35 secs
ROAD RACE
1. Ali Holland MAX Gear RT
2. Elise Sherwell Surrey League Womens Team
3. Ruby Miller Motorpoint/Marshalls Pasta
4. Maryka Sennema Surrey League Womens Team
5. Harriet Owen Motorpoint/Marshalls Pasta
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Ali Holland MAX Gear RT
2. Elise Sherwell Surrey League Womens Team
3. Rohan Battison MAX Gear RT
4. Jackie Garner MAX Gear RT
5. Jeanette Caldicott MAX Gear RT
6. Carrie Beddingfield MAX Gear RT
7. Ruby Miller Motorpoint/Marshalls Pasta
8. Harriet Owen Motorpoint/Marshalls Pasta
9. Hannah Shenton Motorpoint/Marshalls Pasta
10. Hannah Barnes Motorpoint/Marshalls Pasta
11. Maryka Sennema Surrey League Womens Team
12. Emily Bagnall Surrey League Womens Team
13. Stephanie Magri Squadra Donna
14. Nikki Wheeler Surrey League Womens Team
15. Lise Soerensen Surrey League Womens Team
16. Claire Leonard Surrey League Womens Team
17. Iona Sewell Squadra Donna
18. Sarah Maidment Squadra Donna
19. Kirsty Bishop Police Sport UK CRT
20. Anna Fischer MAX Gear RT
21. Gail Aspden Squadra Donna
23. Claire Sadler Police Sport UK CRT
22. Louisa Watson Police Sport UK CRT
24. Clare Simon Police Sport UK CRT
TEAM POINTS
1. Max Gear RT 455 points
2. Surrey League 276 points
3. Motorpoint 250 points
4. Squadra Donne 155 points
5. PSUK 122 points
Report from Graham Robins
A very strong team display from Max Gear RT saw them victorious in this first women’s race to be held on the Upavon circuit. A very strong wind which gusted at times made the back of the course interesting but the rain did stay away. Twenty six women had signed on as the Team Time Trial was called to the line. Five teams lined up and were sent at four minute intervals. The winning team of Max Gear RT beat the next best team by 26secs.
Team Time Trial Result
1st Max Gear RT 18min 23secs
2nd Motorpoint/ Marshalls Pasta 18min 49secs
3rd Surrey League Women’s Team 19min 39secs
4th Squadra Donna 20min 16secs
5th Police Sport UK CRT 21min 35secs
After a break for a Para-cycling race, the women lined up for the road race. The first four laps passed with the bunch all together, then on the fifth lap, a group of four got away. The four riders were Elise Sherwell (Surrey League Women’s Team), Ali Holland (Max Gear RT), Hannah Barnes (Motorpoint/Marshall Pasta) and Iona Sewell (Squadra Donna). These four held the bunch at bay as each team had a rider in the lead group. The gap soon opened out to 30secs, and then on the next couple of laps went out to 45secs.
On lap 10 Hannah Barnes punctured, got a spare wheel and slipped back into the bunch. On the next lap, Iona started to get dropped and was soon at 22secs with the bunch @42 secs. A hard charge saw Iona get back to the leaders and these three opened out the lead to 1min 30secs.
Then on lap fourteen Iona was dropped again and this time she slipped back into the bunch. On the next lap there was a crash in the bunch when riders tried to squeeze into a gap that wasn’t big enough for them all as they tried to shelter from the head wind.
The lead at the front soon jumped to 3 minutes but once the bunch got going again, the gap started to come down but by now the two leaders were away and were not in danger of being caught. As the leaders took the bell, the bunch was now hovering around 2min 40secs. As the leaders came around the last corner and dragged up towards the finish line, it was Ali Holland who had the legs to pull away and take the win. The sprint for third was won by Ruby Miller who was 2min 52secs behind.
Afterwards, Ali said “this was my first win of the year; it was really windy but it was an interesting race and very well run. Elise pushed me really hard”. Elise meanwhile said “it was a really good race, it was really hard when it was the just the two of us, but I really enjoyed it."
Para-Cycling Race
In between the women’s race there was an hour long race for Par-cyclists. There were seven entries and they found the circuit challenging.
1. Allister Copse Bell UK/ HCA
2. Andy Houghton Unattached
3. Stephen Lowden UK/ HCA
4. John Osborne UK/HCA
5. Marc Poolman UK/HCA
6. David Sandles UK/HCA
7. Jim Sinclair Unattached
