Success at Summer Cyclo Cross

The first event in the 360 Performance Summer Cyclo-Cross series took place on the evening of Tuesday the 10th of May. The venue was the Plymouth Moto X Park which offered a wide, hard packed course which was always changing direction and gradient. As it was a cross race there were a few muddy puddles and sticky sections thrown in, “Well you didn’t think you’d get away without washing your bike did you!”.

Representing MDCC on the night were Nicky Quant, Sharn Hooper (Women), Ashton Spence (Senior Male), Martin Burrows, Andrew Parker and Alan Drury (Veterans). In keeping with the low key ‘give racing a go’ feel of the event, the rest of the field was made up for South West Cyclo Cross League stalwarts through to first time cross racers.

The first couple of hectic laps were spent establishing a position in the race. The course is never the same after the warm up, attempting the corners at race speed with other riders around leads some some interesting lines, while using every downhill and flat part of the track to gain speed and fight for position.

For MDCC, Andy Parker was soon at the head of the race fighting with eventual winner Andrew Lovell (Royal Navy) for the lead. Despite a few offs as fatigue set in, he managed to stay with him until close to the end of the race, eventually finishing first Veteran.

Alan and Walter completed the first couple of laps together, before Walter upped the pace to catch Vin Cox (Empella Cyclo Cross) with who he battled for the remainder of the race, with both riders finishing just off the senior podium. Alan eventually finished the race behind the pair to claim second Veteran.

Nicky, Sharn and Martin were all pleased to finish their first Cyclo Cross race with Martin already thinking about how he could use his experience with the women’s Cyclo Cross coaching sessions. Hopefully upping the pain threshold won’t be top of the list!

There are still two events in the Summer Series and you can enter on the day. If the next two events are anything like this one, then this offers a great chance to brush up your cross skills and improve fitness before the season starts.