Year: 2009

On a day some would say was perfect (sunny and a light breeze) Mark Newton was back on his favourite 10 miler G10/57. A late start meant more traffic which affect Mark’s progress on the last roundabout, but he managed a respectable 21.20 for 4th place. The event was won by P Sykes in 20.05 (TBC).

With the planned outing to Crystal Palace looking unlikely, due to the weather and possible cancellation of the event, Matt and Dan Lucas decided to ride the East Grinstead CC 60th Anniversary Club 10 on the G10/39 Horne Course. It was a really enjoyable event despite getting soaked on the 10 mile ride out, Matt regretting choosing the TT bike over the road bike when navigating the lethal corners on this unfamiliar twisty circuit and suffering the confidence shattering sight of Ben Instone and Steve Dennis waiting in the car park at the start. Needless to say Ben and Steve were first and second in v.impressive 22:26 and 23:28 respectively. Matt managed a 25:30 and Dan riding his standard road bike in his first ever TT did a very creditable 26:49, on what The Grinstead Boys described as a hard night. Full result available here!

It was a really friendly event and the EGCC boys are a good bunch, as for the circuit its surprisingly enjoyable and leaves you thinking “I want to ride that again I reckon I can go alot quicker”. A recommended way of spending a Tuesday night if your at a loose end!

Three Sydenham members decided to brave the strong winds on Sunday. Grant Beerling and new member Tim Livsey were using the event as training for up coming triathlon events. Grant recorded 2.19.09 (35th). Tim riding his first ever time trial wasn’t to far behind in 2.27.02 (43rd). Third rider was Bob Loader who recorded a 2.36.41(50th) setting a Kent vets record for his age. The event was won by S. Golla of Sigma Sport in 1.49.26.

The news is a bit thin on the detail from the weekend but the key facts are:

Saturday 18th July – BEC G10/42
No PB’s this weekend for Mark Newton only a fifth in 22.13, the event was won by Shaun Kennedy (Bec CC) in 21:30

Sunday 19th July – BEC G25/53
Mark by his standards recorded what he describes as a “disappointing” time of 57.13 (top ten finish) some way off Steve Dennis (East Grinstead CC) with (I think) 51:55 or thereabouts.

Testing Old Stylie
The elusive Mr Hallet recorded a 23:44 riding drops on a fixed gear (90″) during an evening event on G10/42….”Hellish” were his words.

A miserable morning of light drizzle and low cloud met the early starters of this event. However it’s Mark Newton’s favoured 10 miles TT course having previously set his PB (21.38 – 2 years ago) and a couple of weeks ago came close to beating it (2 seconds outside). Off at No. 5 meant an early start and the legs felt heavy following the exploits of Brands the evening before, however Mark made light of the weather and condition of his legs to record a new PB 21.19 the event was won by Shaun Kennedy 21.08.

Ian O’Hara and Mark Newton formed Team Sydenham for this event. There was a strong field of 71 riders. Mark was first off in the 3rd and 4th category riders led away from the start with a minute and a half lead over the Elites, 1st and 2nd Category riders including Ian in the customary Brands Hatch Handicap start style. However the Handicapped Elites, 1st and 2nd’s powered round and caught the earlier starting group on the 7th of 25 laps (50km).The group remained as one despite several attempts from various riders to escape clear. Small lead splits continually formed lap after lap around Clearways, which stretched the group as they chased with the favourable tailwind down the Brabham straight, and the sweep into and down Paddock Hill bend, only to regroup on the challenging climb up to Druids. The race finished in a bunch sprint led by Jason White (Cycling Bargains), Ian and Mark finished just behind in the pack

The morning was made up of a strong blustery wind and rain coming every so often at a 45 degree angle. As a result about 25 people did not show up to start this event. None of these riders however were from the Sydenham. Bob Loader was the first club rider of a trio off. This was his first open event in quite a while and unfortunately he suffered a broken spoke near the turn and had a rubbing brake block all the way back. Bob eventually finished with a 1.18.40. By the time Ed Rieu started the rain had actually stopped but the roads remained very wet. This made all the roundabouts rather entertaining. Ed finished with a 1.03.36. Last rider off was Dave Twin who believes he did about a 1.01.40 but was credited with a 1.01.09. The event was won by Pete Tadros of In Gear Quickvit RT in 53.48.

Four members of the club were down to ride this rolling course in Surrey. On the day however Nick Varley did not start. Of the other three Mark Newton flew round in 56.18. Dave Twin managed to be the first of a number of riders stopped by police as they recovered a crashed van from a field. Dave lost over five minutes and eventually finished with a 1.06.55. Rob Royston finished with a very respectable 59.02. The event was won by David Pollard of In-Gear Quick Vit in 54.20. Once again it was a shame that Nick didn’t start as we would have walked the team prize.

Mark Newton did a 21.42 on Brands course Wednesday evening, keeping the flag flying for Sydenham. This was only 4 seconds of his PB following only being 2 seconds off on Saturday’s ride.

Whilst other members of the club have been riding the CC Bexley events on Brands on Wednesday evenings, Rob Royston and Dave Twin decided to go and give a little support to the 34 Nomads event on the Polhill course. On yet another breezy evening the guys did quite well. Out of the 11 starters Rob finished with a 24.08 for 3rd and Dave recorded a 24.31 for 4th. The event was won by Tony Draper of the Nomads in 22.14.

Matt Lucas continued is slow return to competitive cycling and was the sole Sydenham rider in the Cat 3/4 event. The memories of how hard Palace is soon came flooding back though as the initial group of 70 (yes 70!) riders was soon whittled down to approx 20 by mid distance. Miraculously (by his own admission) this 20 included Matt who was struggling to find that ‘groove’ that is so essential to surviving at Palace. This group pretty much stayed together until the end with most other riders getting lapped and pulled out by the marshals. The race ended in confusion when a number of riders contested the finish a lap early, lunging for the line with a lap to go! This meant that the group contesting the ‘real finish’ was reduced by a few with Matt collapsing over the line for 9th place.

Christopher Mulford was also riding from the club in the Youth event. Hot off the back of getting a very impressive 7th overall in the Friday night Darenth League he has set his sights on Palace. He managed 6 laps of the full circuit ( they even send the youngest riders round the full circuit these days) and despite finding that climb round the back tough going has not been put off and is reportedly keen to ride next week!

Four Sydenham riders ventured off to Hampshire Sunday morning looking to do fast times on this rolling stretch of road. Once down there they were once again met with a blustery cross wind which made things harder than had been expected. First off was Dave Twin who got round in 1.00.37, his fastest for a while. Second was Neil Stanley with a 58.50 PB (the first time he had broken the hour). Nick Varley did a 56.56 and Mark Newton a 55.29. Shame there was no team prize because the club would have walked it. At time of leaving the fastest time was a 52.03 by Jerome Walters Sigma Sport, this however was being questioned.

Overcast blustery conditions met Mark Newton on his favoured ten mile TT course G10/57. A certain about of luck is required on the course as riders have to navigate roundabouts eleven times on their trip up and down the A264, on the final roundabout Marks’ luck ran out having to slow for a car, frustratingly Mark missed a PB by 2 seconds recording 21.40 and 4th place. The event was won by Shaun Kennedy Bec CC 20.58.

This year’s Singer Trophy was fought over by Nick Varley and Mark Newton, after Ed Rieu and Dave Twin DNS. Heavy rain met Nick and Mark on the flat Camber Sands / Lydd course. Nick was off first and completed the wet course in an impressive 1.54.47 over 6 minutes inside his PB. Mark Newton was chasing hard perhaps too hard and on the last roundabout in Lydd approached it too fast (c25mph) and hit the tarmac hard, fortunately two marshals were on hand to pick Mark up and point him in the right direction for the last 5 miles or so. Mark managed to finish in pain and a little dazed in 1.53.41 to take the Singer Trophy.

Dave WheelerRye & District Wheelers 01:50:46
Kevin TyeOdls.com Racing 01:52:31
Andy MilesVC Elan 01:52:41
Andrew MeilakOdls.com Racing 01:53:04
Mark Newton Sydenham Wheelers 01:53:41
Nick Varley Sydenham Wheelers 01:54:47

Ian O’Hara was the sole Sydenham representative in this 60 mile race on the Bethersden circuit. A furious pace of over 27mph meant that many attempts to get away from the bunch failed. On the final lap Ian managed to chip off the front with Andrew Dolan (Team Toachim). The two built a lead of about 40 seconds over the next few miles and just managed to hold off the fast moving bunch by a handful of seconds. Ian led out the sprint and managed to hold off Dolan to bag his first win of 2009.

After waking up to Sunshine and what looked like it was going to be a great day, it was a bit of a shock when riders got to the HQ to be meet with soaking wet roads and odd large drops of rain still coming down. Of the three Sydenham riders Ed Rieu was the first off and recorded a time of 1.02.55. Dave Twin was second off and had only got a couple of miles into the event when his front tub blew out. The finish time keeper Paul Mepham shouted up the road and asked what the problem was and was soon fitting his training wheel to Dave’s bike. After losing a couple of minutes Dave was back in the race and finished with a 1.04.54. Nick Varley was the last of and proved he is going well with a 57.27 for 6th place. The event was won by Pete Tadros In gear Quickvit RT in 53.38.

Paul Butler, Matt Lucas and Daniel Lucas were all pre-entries for a 3/4/W/J Criterium on Thursday evening 4th June run by Lewes Wanderers on a circuit just south of Uckfield. Unfortunately Paul was taken ill on the day and was unable to ride so it was Matt and Daniel who represented the club. Its was Daniels first ever Road Race and turned out to be a bit of a baptism of fire with the event being run off a pretty furious pace of just shy of 27mph average. The pace of the bunch meant that any attempts to get way were futile, although Matt did try to get away with two others but only managed to stay out front for half a lap before realising it was a wasted effort given no ground was being made on the bunch who were just leaving the three dangling off the front to cook. Racing rookie Daniel rode very well and despite making that common beginners error of lingering at the back on the first couple of laps, and therefore suffering that criterium nightmare of slowing excessively into, and then having to sprint like hell out of, every corner he performed very well and looked at home with both the bunch riding and the pace. That was until with one lap to go he was making his way toward the front of the bunch when the pack slowed leaving he and two other riders stranded the wrong side of the solid white line in the middle of the road resulting in all three riders being disqualified, a fate which was only discovered when handing in the numbers at the finish. The race ended in the usual ‘kerb-to-kerb’ carnage of a sprint with Matt and Daniel finishing towards the front half of the field but not far enough up to mixing it up for a share of the spoils.

It was a gloriously sunny day, but with still quite a bit of a wind when the four Sydenham riders drove to the event. Ed Rieu and Dave Twin travelling together and of in the last part of the field found it strange that no riders were on the course as they neared the HQ. It wasn’t long before they discovered that the original course had road works on it and the event had been quickly changed to an alternative to give everyone a ride. Recently re-joined member Ian O’Hara was a casualty of this change. As an early starter he couldn’t find the start and this resulted in a late start. Further to that Ian believed he had done about a 58.30 on the new rolling double circuit event but was only credited with 01:00:37 at the end of the event. The other club rider’s times were Dave Twin 1.02.30, Ed Rieu 1.02.50 and Mark Newton 57.47 putting him up in the top 5 and amongst the prizes. The winner was Ben Instone, Scientific-Coaching in a staggeringly quick 52.27.

If getting effectively docked two minutes wasn’t harsh enough, salt was being rubbed in Ian’s wounds as Sydenham narrowly missed out on the Team prize which they would have won by some margin if Ian had credited with his actual riding time.

Club member Barry Robinson is planning on competing in both the London Marathon and the UK Ironman this year in order to raise funds for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity.

The first of these challenges, the Marathon, he has already completed in a PB time of 03:35:19 which was 20 minutes faster than his previous best effort and resulted in £900 being notched up on the charity fund. His focus shifting to the UK Ironman in August, Barry recently competed in his first Triathlon of the Season, the New Forest Tri. He completed the course in 2hrs 13 mins made up of a 1.1km swim, 36km bike and 10km cross country run. The bike split, including the transition was 01:02:59.

Those interested in sponsoring Barry for a very worthwhile cause can visit his fundraising page – www.justgiving.com.