Hemel Hempstead Cycling Club

Hi folks,

Well tonight we turned up at the HQ... only to hear from riders coming from the Dagnall direction that there were roadworks with traffic lights up this side of the village going around the corner into the village. With no possibility of even running an emergency short course we had no choice but to cancel. It would have been a good event as I reckon a good 30 plus riders had turned up!

Rather than finish there I'd thought we should have one last look at the season-long competitions as we come towards the end of the season, with just 2 weeks available to make any difference to the standings.

Firstly on scratch for the women Helen Reynolds has an unassailable position over Jody Conibear. For the men Stuart Turner holds a commanding lead over John Lacey, but John has just 7 events done, with Stuart already on 10 events and needing to drop lower counting scores to improve. John needs to ride and score highly in both events to overcome his deficit, but it's still all to play for. 3rd placed Andy Murray can still get up a place but is just 2 points off a potential winning position even with 2 more maximum scores. 4th placed Richard Greaves is already on 10 counting events so will need to drop lower scores, but has a few of those he can do so has the potential to get past Andy. However Ian Baynes has the better chance as he is just 1 point down on Richard but has done only 8 events.

On handicap points Steve Roffe holds a big lead over Stuart Turner, but both already have done 10 or more events so Stuart is not likely to overcome that deficit. However in 3rd place currently Ian Baynes on 8 events has the momentum to be able to overhaul both of them - just! 4th placed Richard Greaves is also not likely to gain much on what he has, and neither will Paul Thomson in 5th - although both are vulnerable from riders lower down with fewer counting events and more to count coming. Helen Reynolds and John Lacey have the potentials to pull themselves up to 3rd overall.

On Vets standards, JD has had a decent plus for most of the year and has a full minute lead over Keith Fletcher, with John Lacey close behind in 3rd, needing over 20 seconds to gain a place.

Next weeks marshalling rota shows the turn of Martin Alexander, James Conibear, Ian Huntingford and Matt Jones. Although I'm pretty sure James will need a substitue as he's working hard in harvesting!

I am also looking for volunteers to help out at Hillingdon on Saturday 21 August from lunchtime for a few hours. We need to fulfil out rota with helping signing on and possibly manual judging (only as a back-up if the photo finish fails). Also a bit of tidying up in the new circuit buildings.  Let me know asap and I'll add you to a list I need to send to the organiser.

Paul