Cyclocross this sunday

[Tamar Collis]

Just a quick reminder that it's the ACC Cyclocross promotion this Sunday (29 October) at Penshurst Off Road Centre.

A couple of people have said they can no longer help out, so if you fancy doing a bit of marshaling in a beautiful woodland near Tonbridge let me know.

Please arrive for 10.30 on Sunday morning - bring warm clothes, especially if you've cycled over as it can be cold standing marshalling. You might also want to bring some shoes suitable for walking around in the mud.

Cheers
Tamar

[Grahame]

Tamar,

I've got the Beastway radios off John (and a roll of course marking tape).

Do you still want to use them? I need to know how to get them to you.

Cheers,

Grahame

[Jon H]

Big up to Tamar for a successful cyclo-cross promotion today, after a few stressful weeks during which we though we'd secured Crystal Palace as a venue then had to make a last minute change back to Penshurst, it all came together on the day.

Mike, the owner of PORC is a very agreeable chap and had virtually designed the course for us, winding around the trails he has built on the hillside. All we had to do on Saturday was decide on a few course options then get busy with the tape and stakes to mark out the course. Aodan & Maria pre-rode the course so we could get a feel for how it would be from a riders perspective and get an idea of lap times.

Today we were blessed with a lovely bright autumn day which brought out the riders and spectators. What makes CX unique is that it can be a family day out, with races for all ages from under 8 upwards, and it was great to see the kids being cheered on by parents and vice versa.

In the senior race Matt Holmes of Artic Shorter won in fine style. Wearing number 1 he rode away from the field on the first lap and stayed there, helping make the lap scoring easier for me, Andrew, John & Jennie.

Had a very agreeable ride back with Andrew & Kieran, just about getting back onto lit roads before the darkness set in.

[Andrew G]

Well said Jon, a good day out. Looked a tough course after walking it, very glad I didn't have to ride it.
Highlight of the day had to be in the under 10 race on a shorter loop. One little boy - racing number 5 but he didn't even look that old! - riding a normal kids bike with direct drive. i.e. he rode cyclo-cross on fixed wheel, now that's hardcore. He even had to take his feet of the pedals going downhill as they were whizzing round too quick.

[Tamar Collis]

HUGE thanks to everyone who made the cyclocross at Penshurst yesterday a most agreeable promotion. My job was made v v easy.

Thanks firstly to Mike at PORC who, as Jon said, had pretty much planned the course for us and let us use his home as our HQ.

Prior to the event Richard Munday, Alex Protusiak, Grahame Baker, Time Coales, Joyce, Paul Tunnell, Richard Viney & Jon Hemming were a great help advising me what I needed to do and helping to source equipment.

Monty persuaded Butlers to donate a prize (a jersey that went to the first Junior rider).

Jon H, Aodan Higgins and Maria David spent about 6hrs helping me tape the course on Saturday.

Paul Tunnel spent his Saturday printing out start sheets, sorting out numbers and getting everything ready for smooth sign-on and lap-counting on the day.

Joyce baked about a dozen cakes and on the day ran a v successful cake stand.

On the day itself Paul sat regally in his armchair on the decking with laptop whirring and reams of paper mounting up as Jon H, Andrew Green and John Cochrane had the eagle-eye task of noting down the order in which riders flew past each lap. Ruth Tunnell ran the sign-on (not to be underestimated) and assisted Paul with the lap-top entries. All their hard work has meant that full results from the Addiscombe event were sent out to the CW newsdesk last night (not something that most events manage).

Jenny & Richard Munday, Kieran Brennan, Monty and Mark Leedham (who was meant to be racing but who suffered a snapped chain on lap 1) ran around doing everything else. Crowd control where the downhill course ran across the entry area for competitors and spectators was well managed despite the kamizaze efforts of the DH'ers. ACC banners were displayed, rocks were removed from the course, lap counts were ferried from the counters to Paul T, under 8's were given sneaky pushes up the steeper parts, and at the end of the day the course was dissassembled and packed away without me having to leave HQ - perfect (BIG thanks to Keith Coffey for helping with that).

The commissaire seemed happy, the riders seemed happy, Mike seemed happy. I feel v guilty that Joyce, Ruth & Paul didn't get chance to see much of the riding though. The view from the finish line was stunning. Looking down across the course it was possible to see four different parts of the course with streams of riders darting in and out of view at different levels in different directions. It was an amazing sight.

Hope I haven't forgotten anyone. I'm also v grateful to those of you who volunteered but were unable to attend. Don't worry...I will find jobs for you next year.

[Dr Frigo]

Well done Tamar, sounds like it was a fine event, sorry to not have been able to help on Sat (nor battle it with Keith Coffey on Sunday!)