News

The best weather conditions of the season so far a slight breeze and sun awaited the 70 entrants. MN was the only Sydenham starter however our Treasurer Ian O’Hara was spotted warming up in the car park. The conditions contributed to a fast race which was won by K Coffey in 20.34 1 second better than from C. Yates. Both Ian and MN record respectable times at 21.18 and 22.09, with MN lowering his PB by 19 seconds.

The Ray Jesset Memorial 10 was held on Q10/17 on a windy Saturday morning. This seasons ‘Sydenham Fastman’, Mark Newton, recorded a time of 22.48 for 5th overall and 2nd in the best improvement on previous 3 years PB (with a time 19 seconds outside his previous fastest time). Paul Mill was fastest on the day with a 20.53.

Sunday morning was the Diamond Jubilee 25 on Q25/10, for those cyclists returning from the 10 mile on the previous day the wind had calmed down but the course was wet making the tight turns very slippery. Mark recorded a time of 58.52 for 10th, the event was won by Keith Coffey BEC CC in 55.20. In the competition for the fastest combined time across the two events Mark was second with the full result to be confirmed.

A top quality field of 115 riders including four members of the Plowman Craven/Evans TR massed for the event on a bright but breezy morning. Three Sydenham riders where on the start list unfortunately both Dave Mulford and Graham Ward DNS but Mark Newton recorded 22.53 for 27th place. The event was won by Gordon McCauley 19:43, in case you were wondering what happen to the other Plowman Craven team members – Tony Gibb punctured on the way to the start, their 3rd man Brian Biggs did a 21:41, and their 4th man got a late start penalty and ended up with a time of 27:03.

It seemed like a good idea on paper, but when you ride 100 miles in continuous rain and gusty breezes in June you do spend a lot of time on the way round asking the question why? Bob Loader a regular to the KCA 100 finished with a 5.32.36. Ed Rieu having ridden his first ever 50 only a few weeks earlier, finished with a 4.45.57. Dave Twin finished with 4.37.34. the overall winner on the dismal day was Ian Silvester of San Fairy Ann CC with 4.07.12.

There were three solo entries and a tandem entry from the club on an overcast morning. Of the three solo riders Dave Mulford lead the way coming home in a time of 26.51(53rd), next off was Graham Ward completing the course in 25.34 (42nd) and the final man in the trio Mark Newton completed in a PB time of 22.28(10th). The event was won by Peter Tadross in a time of 20.29. Unfortunately the tandem entry of Rob & Harry Royston punctured and therefore DNF.

Bob Loader and David Twin were the only two entrants from the club in this event for the Singer Trophy. A bright morning with light winds is what greeted them when they arrived down on Romney Marsh. Dave was the first off with Bob 3 minutes behind to go up to Ashford and back twice. At the first and second turns Dave had put quite a bit of time into Bob. However at 28 miles suffered a punctureof his rear tub. As a result Bob wins the trophy with a 2.36.36. The overall event was won by Kevin Tye ODLS.com Racing in 1.52.41

A humid morning is what greeted both Mark Newton and Dave Twin as they left the start line on their respective rides. The course (G10/89) was down and up the A22 twice. This also included having to ride into and out of heavy showers twice. As a result some riders suffered punctures. Considering the conditions Mark turned in a very respectable 2.02.15. Dave finished with a 2.07.10. The event was won by Mark Winton of Lewes Wanderers in 1.54.??

Over the last Bank Holiday weekend in May three club members Jamie Walker, John Rivett and Mark Newton represented the Club on the 4 day Tour of Sussex. A combination of heavy rain, cold temperatures and fast racing worked against many of the 70 starters with only 40 completing the 4 days. A fast time on Friday evening’s opening 4 mile prologue and 2 top 10 finishes over the next 3 days gave Mark Newton a creditable 6th in the overall GC and enough points to move up to 3rd cat. Unfortunately at the moment we do not have details of where Jamie and John finished. Full report is available from the BCF website Read Report.

According to Mark this is the 1st of 3 season targets now achieved. Wonder what the other 2 are?

6 members of the club pre-entered this event. On the day 5 of these appeared at the hall to be greeted to bright, warm conditions and only a light breeze. Ed Rieu, Dave Twin, Mark Newton, Jamie Walker and Robert Robbins were joined on the line by 68 other riders. 8 laps on the undulating circuit then followed. A number of riders attempted to break off the front during the race but to little effect. Dave attacked on the main hill with 2 laps to go taking another rider with him and joining another rider already up the road. The three worked together only for about a quarter of a lap before getting brought back. On the final lap Jamie and Mark attacked on the same climb with a couple of other riders. They gained quite a gap and things were looking good. Unfortunately they were reeled in by the fast finishing bunch on the last corner. The result was a massive bunch sprint. Jamie was the first of the Sydenham riders to cross the line. Dave just pipped Robert and they were shortly followed by Mark after he had been boxed in on the inside. Ed had been dropped with a couple of laps to go and rode in a small group to the finish. The final positions are awaited on the SERRL website.

Apologies that the updates to the website have been a bit slack lately but even website administrators have holidays!

Kent Cycles Open 9.35 (28th April 2007)
Not satisfied with having both the start and finishes in the wrong place, it would seem that they can’t even get the results correct. Ed has a download from his computer/heartrate monitor he did over 22 minutes and was shown as 22.00 on the result board, but according to the result sheet he finished as the fastest Sydenham rider with 21.00 (28th). He was followed home by Dave Twin 21.44 (38th), Nick Varley 23.25 (67th) and Jim Oliver 30.22 (88th) which included a 6m 28s late start due to a puncture.

Medway Velo open 25 (20th May 2007)
On a warm, dry but breezy morning Dave Twin was the sole Sydenham rider to enter this event on the Molash course. With a lot of riders managing to break the hour Dave came away a little disappointed with his 1.01.21. At the time of leaving the likely winner looked like being Kevin Tye ODLS.com racing with 55.17.

Epsom Spring Classic LVRC (29th April 2007)
There were 3 races going round this rather hilly course based around Bletchingly in Surrey. Two members of the club rode. Dave Twin in the A/B category race (5 laps) and Dave Fleming in the E/F/G race (4 laps). Mr Twin riding his first road race for two years managed to hang in with the main bunch until the forth time up the climb. He eventually finished 35th overall and 17th in the A category. Dave Fleming riding his new stead in his first road race of the year eventually finished 19th overall and 18th in the E category.

Club 10 on Cudham (10th May 2007) – Cancelled due to road works.

Catford Interclub (16th May 2007) – Cancelled due to road works.

Catford Open 10 Q10/19 (20th May 2007) – Cancelled due to road works.

Last weekend was a busy one with the good whether getting a large number of members out riding a number of different events. Some of the reports/results that have come in are a bit sketchy but hopefully the summary below is correct.

New Q9.5/19 Course!
A marshalling error which put the finish for this event in the wrong lay-by and a windy day resulted in times being a bit meaningless on this event. However for the record Dave Twin completed the shortened course in 00:21:44.

KCA 10 Q10/22
Nick Gritton and Dave Mulford rode this event on the Sunday recording times of 00:24:54 (14th) and 00:33:23 (39th) respectively. The event was won by Paul Burrows of Kent Cycles in 00:21:52.

Surrey League 123
According to Nick Gritton recently rejoined member Matt Miles rode this event on the Cutmill circuit and notched up another good result coming in second. Unfortunately we have no more info on this even after scouring LondonCycleSport.com.

Open TT G25/53
Mark Newton and Bob Loader represented the club in this event and Marks fine form continues with a 00:58:10 catching and passing a certain Bob Loader in the process. Bobs time for the event was 01:15:??. The winning time was 00:51:21 from Michael Hutchinson.

Matt Miles returning to the club joined Jamie Walker and Ed Rieu to start the SERRL event on the Chilham circuit with 87 other riders including Sydenham second claim and club treasurer Ian O’Hara for a full field of 90 on a warm Sunday morning (22 April 2007). Ian was straight off the front with a few other riders and stayed away the whole day of this 90K race taking in 4 12.5 mile laps that include a drag up the hill at Mowlash with a finish up the brutal White Hill. Ed fell out the back of the last group after about three laps but Jamie and Matt stayed with the main pack through to the finish up White Hill. Matt started a long chase to the front group to close an approximate 40 second deficit. At the finish, Ian took third behind Gareth McCullough (Medway Velo) and Mark Powell (GS Invicta). Matt nearly closed the gap and finished fourth after nearly closing the gap. Jamie finished in a splintered group and Ed finally made it to the finish after riding a lonely last lap of the race. A warm welcome back to Matt and well done on a great ride to him and the other Sydenham riders.

Matt Lucas, riding as in a second claim capacity for Hasting & St Leonards CC was the sole club rider in this association event. Starting towards the end of the field when, temperatures were on the up and with the flying Pete Tadros off a few minutes behind, Matt managed to improve on recent performances with a sub hour ride (only just) of 00:59:58. The event was won by Pete Tadros in just under 53 minutes!

Ed Rieu was the only member of the club riding this event on what from the roadside looked like a cracking morning. Those watching from the roadside consisted of Dave Twin, Graham Ward and Matt Lucas who were on marshalling duty at Hamstreet, which is the turn at just over half distance. Ed put in a good ride recording a PB of 01:03:47 which the marshals attribute to the enthusiastic shouts of encouragement that were aimed in his direction at the aforementioned roundabout!

A bright but chilly morning is what greeted Dave Twin, Richard Hallett and Nick Varley when they turned up for the start of this spoco event. Dave was the third man to start and within the first 3 miles downhill stretch had managed to catch his minute and two minute men. It was then a case of waking the marshals up, being the first man on the road. Dave did a 1.49.13, Richard a 1.47.00 and Nick a 1.55.01. The overall event was one by James Dear of In-Gear Quickvit R.T. in 1.39.27.

The in form Mark Newton and Matt Lucas turned out to ride this event on the flat lands around Romney Marsh. It was a bright and cold morning with a slight breeze which felt stronger than it was due to the exposed nature of the course. Mark recorded and impressive time of 01:12:08 for 7th overall with Matt coming in nearly 4 minutes back at 01:15:54 22nd overall. The event was won by Paul Burrows Kent RC in 01:07:45.

In this race which from the London Cycle Sport report looks like it was full of attacks Mark Newton secured a very respectable 14th place after winning the opening club 10 of the season the day before. Whilst we are not sure of his final finishing position we also spied Jamie Walker in the photos of this event.
LondonCycleSport.com

Damp road surfaces with the threat of diesel on the first roundabout is what greeted the five members of the club who rode. With a tail/cross wind on the way out and head/cross on the way back Mark Newton was the first club member off. He turned in a very respectable 24.05 (14th). It wasn’t long till the others followed, Ed Rieu 25.19 (26th), Dave Twin 24.53 (22nd), Matt Lucas 24.41 (20th) and Nick Varley 26.36 (35th). The overall event was won by Ben Instone of A3crg/Bikedoc/The Tri Store in a course record of 21.18.

Those who have ridden with Jamie this year will have suspected he was going strongly and the proof of that is evident from his 8th place in the Peter Young Memorial RR this weekend. Report and pictures (as always) on LondonCycleSport.com.

Only one team represented the Sydenham in this year’s event, made up of Richard Hallett, Dave Twin and Mark Newton. What greeted them on the morning was severe winds and colder temperatures than of late. The guys flew out to the Ashford turn, but then had to stuggle into the headwind on the longest leg, before getting the benefit of the wind again on the final leg to the finish. They recorded a time of 1.01.23 to take 5th. The winners were Phil Bull, Gary Birch and Neil Archibald of V.C.Elan in 57.21.