Mercia Report 27-09-09

An excellent day's racing at the National Forestry Centre at Rosliston saw a record number of 306 riders aged from six to seventy years old race in five different races catering for all ages in the 2nd West Midlands Cyclo Cross League race promoted by Mercia HBM's Keith Lee. The final event was the Senior race with David Clarke finishing a close second in the sprint for the finishing line in the one hour race. David was back in 25th place in the first lap due to a mass pile up. The winner was international cyclo cross rider Phil Dixon (Zepnat.com). Mercia's Peter Collins finished 27th out of the 50 starters. Matt Simons & Phil Machin rode well to finish in the top 30 riders. Unfortunately Justin Waters did not finish due to a broken seat pillar. In the the under 10's race, also with 50 riders, Ethan Collins & Elliott Waters both competed with Elliott 4th in the under eight age group. In the under 12's there were three Mercia riders Chloe Collins, Joshua & Bailey Waters. Joshua was 4th & Bailey 7th. Chloe finished her first cyclo cross race. The Veterans, Ladies & Juniors race had 106 riders start with Adrian Waters & Keith Staley both finishing the 45 minute race. Junior rider Perry Bowater (CC Giro was the winner).

David Clarke continues to race in different parts of the UK. In Shrewsbury he finished 2nd in the Shrewsbury Circuit race for elite, first & second category riders. Held at Sundorne Sports Village the race was over 40 kilometres. Lewis Cowley (Plan B RT) was 6th & Kieran Frend (Sabbath/Claytan) was 7th. The winner was Richard Hepworth (Arctic Premier RT)

Clarke finished 4th in the first sprint of the day of the 1 hour Preston Grand Prix Elite Circuit race His final finishing position was 12th. The winner was Graham Briggs (Candi TV. Marshall's Pasta)

There were 70 entrants for the 100km Audax Ride organised by Ian Hill for the Mercia HBM Cycling Club. Starting from Moira there was a triangular route using lanes to Nether Whitacre near Coleshill, then to Sutton Cheney by Bosworth Field before returning to Moira. 61 riders completed the ride including local riders Phil Hadland, Ray Mortlock, Mark Coombes, Steven Hughes, Jeff Gamble, Martin Robbins, Tim Ellington, Gary Hancox, Mark Woollett, Sean Hines, Jim Kavanagh, Keith Mitchell, John Bourne & William Dughan.

Ian also organised a 200km Audax Ride on the same day for the Cyclist's Touring Club East Midlands region with a route over Charnwood Forest to Melton Mowbray then to Rockingham Forest, returning south of Leicester. South Derbyshire rider Chris Narborough was one of the 23 finishers.