National Trophy Series - Cheltenham 5th October 2003

The cyclo-cross season seems to starts earlier and earlier each year, it was only just October and I was back on skinny knobbly tyres. The first round this year was at Cheltenham, a course I have had some good results in the past. As it was early season the ground was hard and the course very fast with only a hurdle to make you dismount.

This was my first cross outing of the season and I have a new Giant cyclo-cross bike, a nice blue TCX.

The gun fired and I got a good start, I lead for the first half a lap as everyone fought for position. Matt Ellis, his Belgium team mate Camiel van den Bergh, Jody Crawforth, Nick Craig and I formed a group at the front. Last years runner up in the series Stuart Wearmouth came off on a tight loose corner and this gave the five of us a gap. Matt and his team mate took it in turns to push the pace. I closed a gap with Jody this was too much for Nick after his second place last week in the 3 Peaks and he lost ground on our group.

The next thing that happened was when Jody jumped the hurdle (still on his bike) and landed at an angle which was enough to make his tube roll off. It was a long way to the pits from there so this was pretty much the end of his race. This left Matt's team mate Van den Berghout in front with Matt and I together. I chased but to no avail. Matt then took advantage and closed the gap to his team mate. This left me with 5 laps to hang on to third place. The gap stayed at 20 seconds to the group chasing me until the last lap where it came down as it split with their final charge. It was too late to catch me, Ian Wilkinson took 4th place.

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(written 05/10/03)