SouthernXC 2014 Round 5 Report

BY: SMBC Crew

Published: 10th June, 2014

Let's call that the hilly one! The QECP Collective built a love it or loathe it course that really rounded off the variety of courses we try for at SouthernXC. The medics were busy with bumps and bruises and one of our friends, John Speed, from the Open race, spent the night in hospital having a deep knee wound cleaned and stitched under general anaesthetic. Man of the Race award has to go to Ian Morris and Matt Page, who abandoned their races to stay with John while help arrived - big respect!

The hill certainly suited Ade Lansley, who sealed the Series win with his first race win of the season from Southern Champ, Jody Crawforth. Third place went to James Roe in his first ever SouthernXC podium after years of racing with us.

Cat Ross completed her amazing first year Elite with another win and took the Series with maximum points.

In the Expert Male race, Michael Guilford preferred the hill over rival Philip Pearce, who took the Series win. Jenny Thompson only needed to finish to take the Series win in Expert Female, and claimed a respectable third to Flo Dannah and Hannah Attenburrow on the day.

Maggie Maundrell finally beat Carol Tilley in the Grand Vet Female race but it wasn't enough to take the Series title from Carol. Mark Chadbourne and Nigel Brown battled as usual for the Grand Vet Male race with Mark taking the win and the series. Steve Jones was pipped at the post for the final podium spot by Roland Tilley with a strong fourth on the day.

Don't know what happened in the Junior Male race where a usually good turnout was reduced to Oliver Stean on his own to take the win and the Series. Holly MacMahon confirmed the series win with a second on the day to Abigail Van Twisk in the Junior Female race.

In the Juvenile Male category, Thomas Timberlake, Luke Mitchie and Noah Charlton continued their series long battle, with Thomas taking the win on the day and the Series win. In the Juvenile Female category, Emily Ashwood, Abbie Manley and Alderney Baker fought out the Series title with Emily beating them on the day, behind Emily Bridson taking the race win.

After a fifth place in Round 3, Andy Taylor stormed the Master Male race, to beat Rob Purcell who took the Series win from Kim Little and Stuart King. No one eligible for Master Female Series, although Jo Ponting won the race on the day. James Styrin and Daniel Partidge took first and second in the Open Male race by a considerable margin, pushing Owen Pattinson into second in the Series. Open Female was won by Kelli Salone from Kim Clark. Bruce Spilsbury scored maximum points to win the Sport Series and move up to Expert next year. Ian Petherbridge won the Super Vet race and Series.

Claire Smith sealed the Veteran Female Series with another win. While Dean Morgan won the Veteran Series with a great third place on the day behind Marc Chamberlain and Crispin Doyle. Emily Wadsworth won the Youth Female Series with maximum points again. Daniel Tullett took the Youth Male race win but having only completed three rounds gave the Series win to Christopher Rothwell, closely followed by Joshua Hooper.

Thanks again to the QECP Collective for hosting and building. Go and see their permanent work at the main QECP trail centre over the hill. We do need to remind riders that the Head Down trails are NOT public access, so please don't ride there out of race events.

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