Be careful what you wish for they say, well mud lovers got a bit more than they bargained for at round 7 of the Miche Wessex CX league in a return to the New Forest Care Outdoor learning centre, near Romsey.
It was time for mud, a LOT of mud. Enough of the brown stuff in fact to make it a favourite for the runners as heavy rain in the days before gave us a super heavy course that cut up in the early races as the grass soon disappeared in the soup-like ground conditions. Kudos to hosts VC Venta who battled rain and gale force winds to set up and repair storm damage that even managed to blow the timing tent away!
Oscar Pratt (VC Venta) took the junior men’s race. Paul Lloyd (Banjo Cycles) back to winning ways in the v40 men. India Lee taking the senior women’s race, Maryka Sennema (Cotswold Veldrijden) top v40, Lydia Gould (VC Venta) top v50 woman.
By the afternoon, the v50 men’s race was greeted with driving sideways hail as local mountain biker, Paul Hopkins (Merida Factory Racing) worked his way through the field and took the win as riders were now forced to run the majority of the course. The senior men’s race was won by Edwyn Oliver-Evans (cyclocrossrider.com).
Provisional results:
Photos: Pitchside Paul