Hemel Hempstead Cycling Club

Hemel Hempstead Cycling Club Hosts a Successful Day's Racing

The Roy Thame Cup and Spring Chicken road races took place in Buckinghamshire last Saturday 13th March.

On a windy and overcast day, a field of 80 took part in the main race of the day, the Roy Thame Cup, on Saturday afternoon, while Hemel Hempstead riders, Gavin Atkins, Chris Grange and Simon North, competed in the morning's Spring Chicken road race.

Gavin Atkins managed a very creditable 3rd place, while Chris Grange finished safely in the bunch. Simon North pulled out after a few laps after a gutsy effort to maintain his place in the pack, but a week at a training camp had taken its toll.

Although Chris had taken part in the Imperial Series held at Hillingdon, this was his first 'proper' road race and he used it mainly as a learning opportunity and a chance to gain valuable experience. He said:

"I spent most of the race sitting in watching and learning, apart from a few short spells on the front where I saw Gavin prowling around waiting for his chance to blast up the road,and join the race leaders.

"In the last lap I realised while I'd been concentrating on finishing I had left it too late to get back up on the front, as the chasing group had quickly got tightly packed and twitchy, so I had to settle for a finish in the bunch."

Gavin Atkins had this to say about his race:

"The race started with 3 guys going straight up the road and I had half the mind to follow them as Paul (Thompson) told us one of the guys was an ex Elite – Paul Dring and with him although I didn’t know it was Jonathon Schubert... but I was boxed in and hesitant to show my cards too early so I stayed put.

"Over the next lap they dangled out in front of us with no one really wanting to turn it on, a few attempts were made to go across but everyone was too fresh and the lack of wind on the circuit was making it too easy for the field to sit in. Anyone trying to go clear was pursued with amazing vigour as the bunch strived to not be left behind. But the break was slowly, very slowly, edging away. I got a little frustrated and put in a huge attempt to break the bunch but Luke Smith appeared to bring me back single handily- and then everyone sat up again!

"So I sat back for a few minutes to regroup and let some others take over – no long after Phil Adkins launched one and a small group got up to him, which I bridged up to by myself and it looked for a short while as we were away – but the bunch pulled us back again and the early break started to look fragile again. However the bunch had better ideas than to chase it seemed, and they all sat up again admiring the view. Something of a pattern here...

"Approaching the small climb on the circuit in the bunch for the penultimate time I wanted to be well positioned up the climb so I came onto it in the first 2 or 2 riders and remained seated and allowed several riders to go past who were panning it to overtake me – They got a small gap and Mike Broadwidth saw the threat and he chased it hard – we were now in the headwind final part of the lap and as soon as Mike made contact I fully committed down the right and finally broke free alone.

"This time I’d got the timing right and I set my sights on the break up the road. It took me 4mins, 3km and 399W to get across according to my powermeter data! I joined them pretty much at the bell ring for the final lap. Much to my surprise, or not, Jonathon was in the break, so it was obvious that was why it was still away! I took a few short turns to recover from the effort and then we realised we were starting to get caught again. I took the sharp corner at the start of the circuit fast and then took a big turn and Jonathon came through with no one on his wheel as we’d slightly dropped the other 2 – we had to proceed as the bunch was nearly on us with about 10km to go. We shared the pace well the 2 of us holding of the entire bunch for several kilometres, although Jonathon was starting to hurt as he’d been out front all race by now. The short climb near the end of the lap was a worry as we were so commited to mainainting our gap on the flat – so I started the climb at a hard pace, but with something up my sleeve in case we got caught – looking around was not an option!

"A young junior jumped across from the bunch to us on the climb but I saw him come by, and made a huge effort to get right onto his wheel as we went over the top of the hill for the last time – his effort to join us helped us to hold the bunch off and we continued to drive really hard to stay away with less than 4km to go – it was all a bit much for Jonathon and he tried to sit on - he missed a few turns while the junior and myself gave it everything we had to stay away – the field were now very close and it was touch and go for the last 2km whether we’d stay clear , they were gaining on us all the time but painfully slowly! For a while I thought we might make it but coming into the last kilometre the bunch were close enough to touch - sadly my break-mates got absorbed into the bunch with 500m to go but I’d managed to stay clear and raised the pace to ensure I didn’t get swamped and was holding off the bunch waiting for the sprint to start proper, looking over my shoulder to time the jump – it was like a match sprint! As it was into the wind and the end of a big effort I knew it was asking alot to lead out too early, so held off and I started sprinting but there was not much there after the efforts and I was well beaten on the final 100m but held off most for the bunch of 65 riders for 3rd. So close..."

The afternoon Race, The Roy Thame Cup, brought a strong field to the Charndon Circuit, including the British Champion Kristian House of the Rapha Condor Sharp team.

In the end it was Former Australian road race champion Darren Lapthorne (Rapha Condor/Sharp) who claimed victory. After attacking in the final few miles, Lapthorne held on to win the race by 50 metres as the riders battling for second came close to reeling him in on the line.

Roy Thame Cup Result

1. Darren Lapthorne Rapha Condor Sharp
2. James Stewart Team Raleigh - Raleigh / High 5 / Skoda
3. Andrew Magnier Cycle Premier - Metaltek Pro CRT
4. Andy Betts SigmaSport Specialized CT
5. Tom Southam Rapha Condor Sharp
6. Dan Craven Rapha Condor Sharp
7. John Wager Felt - Colbornes RT / Felt / Colbornes / Zipp / Castelli / Tiger
8. Jon Pain Wilier / BigMaggys.com / Prendas Cyclismo
9. Llewellyn Kinch GWR Team - Swindon Cycles / High 5 / Kalas / Scott Wilson / Diamond-HF
10. Grant Bayton Wilier / BigMaggys.com / Prendas Cyclismo

Spring Chicken Road Race Result

1. Nathan Smith London Phoenix
2. James Norris High Wycombe CC
3. Gavin Atkins Hemel Hempstead CC
4. Luke Smith Whyte Racing UK
5. Stephen Shellard BC Private Member
6. Gareth Dickinson Farnborough & Camberley CC - Collard Waste Mngmnt / Porsche Centre Guildford
7. Christopher Dick London Phoenix
8. Adam Ellis Spalding CC - Gibbons Cycles / Shareteq
9. Tom Neale Inverse Racing - Bikefood / Continental / Bikepure
10. Alex Turner Team Trisports

26. Chris Grange Hemel Hempstead Cycling Club

DNF. Simon North

Full Results for both races can be viewed on the British Cycling website