Location: Hillingdon circuit, London
Event: 7 December 2013
It’s always buzzing for the first event of the series and Saturday was no exception; the weather helped mild with little wind.
The Fourth Cat race was dominated in sheer numbers by London Dynamo but, despite a late flourish when at least 10 of them took off practically on their own, they failed to capitalise with a win but did place four riders in the top 10.
There was a fierce bunch sprint after 50 minutes won by a length by Thames Velo’s Laurence Manning Neil Fraser (Stevenage CC) and Roland Fejfar (London Dynamo). A good fast race run off without incident.
Steven Gordon-Head (Kingston Wheelers) wins the Imperial Cycles random prize (20th) and can look forward to his bike having spa-like treatment for Christmas!
The Elite/1/2 and 3rd cat event had an International flavour with new Imperial RT rider, Olympic Triathlete Stuart Hayes returning to Hillingdon after a gap of 8 years. He is looking to sharpen up his speed for the non-drafting events in America early next year.
The race started in its usual fashion from the start full on with evergreen Bill Butterworth (Twickenham CC) attacking and staying at the head for 2 laps. There were several other efforts to break up the large field with Rudy Marais (La Fuga-Sigma Sport CC) looking strong at the front.
However, there was only one racer who had the strength to break clear and stay away for several laps and that was Beeline RT’s Ben Sumner, who has been performing superbly in cyclo-cross and clearly carried his good form across to the road circuit. He was caught but attacked again before sitting up and waiting for the finish.
His final effort was very impressive, holding off James Norris (High Wycombe CC) and Vincent Halpern (Handsling Racing) to gain a convincing win: he looks like the man to beat in future races.
The Third Cat riders mixed it up with the E 1 2 riders contesting the sprint within a sprint with Simon Barnes (London Dynamo) finishing 1st (in 8th place overall) with Spencer Robinson (Newbury RC) 2nd and Greig Petrie (London Dynamo) placed 3rd. Barnes wins the Imperial Cycles voucher.
An otherwise good first day was disrupted with 3 laps to go on the sharp bend when someone caught their pedal on the ground and brought several riders down; it was an unfortunate occurrence after an excellent race.
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.
