Guildford town centre Crit 9th July

[Sylv]

They say the Senior races shouldn't be cancelled in case of rain.

I was planning to take a train from work to get there at 19.07, but couldn't face carrying my camera with huge flash and lens, plus change of clothes in my rucksack on today's commute. So I thought I'd pop home beforehand, but now realise train access is a lot harder from Croydon (need to go back to Clapham) which means even on the tightest schedule I would get there at 19.52, missing the 3/4 and probably the start of the E/1/2.

This added to the incessant rain, I am not so sure I will make it.

[Antloony]

I may go down yet, the rains meant to ease off later this afternoon

Sylv, theres 3 trains that go from Sutton direct to Guilford at 16:56, 17:27 and 18:01 They only take 46 mins and Sutton is only 11 mins from West Croydon station, would not that be your best bet, Im planning on getting one of these if I go weather permitting.

[Sylv]

won't make it, work getting in the way ...

[-Adam-]

Well I'm on my way now... with an umbrella!

If anyones about, its a standard legal & general blue/red/yellow/green affair, you can't miss me!

[Michelle]

Hey, there's a chick doing this!

Big balls or what

[-Adam-]

Wow! What an awesome race!

A crash in the first lap meant the race split up pretty quick. After a couple of laps, Matt Stephens of Sigma Sport attacked solo and led the race almost all the way. Despite the efforts of Tony Gibb and Warrick Spence to chase hime down. Later on Chris Legg of AW Cycles launched a solo bid to ride across to him. Which eventually he did, and when he made contact he went straight through and kept on working. Later on Matt had all but dropped him with about 3 to go, but he clawed his way back up just as the bell was rung. And 52 seconds later it was Chris who shot through the last corner first, leading by about 3 lengths all the way up the cobbled finish to claim what was nothing short of an awesom win. And... he's 17.(edited - Chris Legg is still only 16 - he's not 17 until 20 August. Guru P)

So, Stu... pull your finger out sonny!

[Sylv]

That young Chris Legg must be an animal!

[quote]The 25th anniversary edition of the Guildford Town Centre Races, promoted by Charlotteville Cycling Club and Sigma Sport, held on the infamous cobbles of Guildford High Street took place under dark and wet skies. But there were smiles all around in the crowd as the youngest riders took home the spoils and caused a few upsets. 16 year old Chris Legg (AWCycles.co.uk) took part in the Youths race at last years event but made the big jump up to the main event and then took the spoils by making a last gasp jump away from the group to take the win. Then if things weren’t going well enough for Legg he was thrilled to receive his prize money from former Tour de France winner Stephen Roche.


According to race commentator Colin Docker (who has been behind the microphone for almost all of them), the rain has only come down for just three of the previous 25 years but the rains came down for the whole of the day and did not let up into the evening. Consequently, the race organisers unfortunately had to take the decision to cancel the Sheerwater Glass Youth Criterium on safety grounds. The older (but not much for some) riders were left to utilise their best bike handling skills to get round the tight circuit which included some tight corners which in the wet were taken at much slower speeds than normal.

The main event started off steadily with the Plowman Craven RT duo of Tony Gibb and James Millard controlling proceedings from the front of the pack. However, a handful of laps into the race and Matt Stephens (Sigma Sport RT) broke away from the main field and steadily built up a healthy lead which grew over the next five laps until it reached 15 seconds and stayed there until the last ten laps when the bunch finally decided to haul him back in. Meanwhile riders further back in the group used all their skills to keep upright around the course although many lost their battle with gravity and fell to the ground particularly on the tough transition on to the cobbles of the High Street which claimed many a victim, most of whom remounted and continued, albeit with a few bruises.

As the final laps began to count down the final primes of the race kick started the chasing group into action and the gap to Stephens started to drop. With only a few laps left they were all back together again and then Chris Legg took his chance and jumped away to take a slight lead that he held off until the end to take the victory and become almost certainly the youngest rider to win the Guildford Town Centre Race crown with Matt Stephens holding on for second followed by James Millard.

The first race of the night saw less controlled racing action with no large groups of riders from the same team and right from the flag Sam Sturgeon (Team Terminator) took off from the front and never looked back. Within just a couple of laps he had built up a healthy lead over the chasing field where a small group of chasers were trying to organise themselves into reducing the gap but it was to no avail. Sturgeon was too strong and perhaps his skills from the track were used to greatest effect resulting in lap times that were well ahead of his nearest rivals and it was no surprise when he lapped the whole field and from that point on it was just a case of staying upright (although even he hit the cobbles at one stage but was able to remount and without too many problems). Behind him the race was, from very early on, for the minor places with Nick Onslow (Pedalon.co.uk) leading the remaining riders home from Simon Bird (Dulwich Paragon).

Speaking after the event, race organizer Matt Legge from the promoting club Charlotteville CC said “I’d really like to thank all those spectators who still turned up in their numbers despite the heavy rain it was great to see them all out their enjoying the action. It was also a great privilege for us to have Stephen Roche down to present the prizes, I hope that he had a great time and enjoyed the racing. Let’s hope for some better weather next year”.

Sigma Sport Criterium - National B (E/1/2)
1 Chris Legg (AWCycles.co.uk)
2 Matt Stephens (Sigma Sport/Specialized/Sportful CT)
3 James Millard (Plowman Craven RT)
4 Tom Smith (AWCycles.co.uk)
5 Dan Duguid (Sigma Sport/Specialized/Sportful CT)
6 Jody Crawforth (Arctic Premier RT)
7 Douglas Dewey (Team Tor 2000)
8 Warrick Spence (CycleFit/Serotta)
9 Darren Barclay (Arctic Premier RT)
10 Simon Ernest (AWCycles.co.uk)
11 Lee Smith (http://www.agiskoviner.com)
12 Ian Paine (London Dynamo/Cyclefit)
13 Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport/Specialized/Sportful CT)
14 Billy Whenman (Sports Beans-Wilier)
15 Sam Allen (i-Team)


Knight Frank Criterium – Regional B (3/Jun)
1 Sam Sturgeon (Team Terminator)
2 Nick Onslow (Pedalon.co.uk)
3 Simon Bird (Dulwich Paragon)
4 Jon Lewis (Charlotteville CC)
5 Philip Moore (British Cycling Private Member)
6 Chris Hunt (VC Godalming & Haslemere)
7 Daniel Ahearn (DHCycleSport)
8 Felix English (Team Corridori)
9 Alan Parkinson (South Western Road Club)
10 Martin Weinberger (CC Basingstoke)
11 Simon Notley (Reading CC)
12 Dean Frost (VC Meudon)
13 Russell Clarke (Fit-For.com)
Women
1 Jo Munden (VC Meudon)
2 Lucy Chittenden (Farnham Tri Club)

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

He was awesome - he chased Matt Stevens (no slowcoach) for lap after lap and in one lap suddenly made up 100m and was with him, then Matt attacked and went away again, with Chris dangling 100m behind, then with 2 to go, another big effort from Chris saw him with Matt again and on the last lap he attacked the corners and stayed upright to cruise up the finish by himself.

I spoke to Matt after the race and he said that he (Matt) was stronger on the climb, but couldn't match Chris on the corners -which were treacherous in those conditions, seeing many crashes, and Mr Gibb pulling out.

Chris is still a Youth rider, but has dispensation to ride as a Junior in closed circuit races, and is already a 2nd cat

[Sylv]

[quote="Michelle"]Hey, there's a chick doing this!

Big balls or what

[Antloony]

What is he doing...the one lying down in the last pic...bloody silly place to take a rest...

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

He's just trying to get a lap out, but I saw past his silly game

Guru P (Commissaire)

[-Adam-]

[quote="mrP(Boonen)VT"]He's just trying to get a lap out, but I saw past his silly game

Guru P (Commissaire)