by Elena Bremer | Jun 23, 2013
Women’s Bournemouth Twilight Criterium
New to 2013 the Bournemouth Twilight Criterium promises all the razzle dazzle of the London Nocturne and more. The race is planned as part of a day of cycling festivities, and with a Sky Ride taking place the same evening crowds are likely to be large. The organisers, who have been involved in the very successful London Nocturne, Tour Series and Tour of Britain, are pulling out all the stops to give riders and the public a full experience of a professionally run bike race.
Spectators have been catered for, with big screens and commentators, while the riders get the full works like any of the best professional races. Organiser Richie Dickson said “it will be set up as any professional event, from sign on to podium presentations; prize money will be from 1-10 for men & women, descending from 100-10 pounds. Plus top 3 will get trophy, flowers & champagne”.
The race will be run on a 1.5km circuit right in the town centre, taking in a seafront section and some of the great sights of Bournemouth – not that riders will have much time to take all this in with some fast straight sections mixed into technical tight corners it promises to be an exciting course to race on.
With only three women entered at the moment, organisers are understandably getting twitchy about filling the field – however to lose the race entirely would a be a real shame as it presents such a great opportunity to show the general public that women do race bikes, and that women’s races are just as exciting as men’s!
So here we get to the crux of the matter – I have written this piece to try and boost the number of women entered to the event. It is slightly self-serving of me, since basically I am really keen to race this event myself and won’t be able to if it is cancelled. But also I think it is important to support women’s races (especially ones where organisers offer prize money equality between genders!).
Yes, fewer women race bikes than men, and yes we probably won’t get as bigger field as the men, but we’ll never get more women racing bikes if we don’t get out there and show them that we do it. Plus, why wouldn’t you want to smash it round Bournemouth town centre with the potential of a nice prize at the end?!
So come on girls, sign up. We have until Tuesday (25/06/2013) to get 20 women entered to keep the race. Entry is a bargain considering the organisation that has gone into the event at only £10. You know you want to! So girls and guys please spread the word it’s important for the world of cycling competition.
Sign up to race by clicking here.
For more information visit the dedicated British Cycling page by clicking here.
by Elena Bremer | Apr 23, 2013
The SWWRS Race 2 went off with a bang, or a metaphorical bang of speed if you like. There was no messing around today!
The race was the first crit in the series, held in the sunshine at Merryfield Airfield near Ilton; it’s a cracking little 5km circuit and there’s not a hill in sight, but the wind up there does plenty to make for an interesting race. We had a good turn out with 17 riders signing on from far and wide, with a bit of team representation from VC St Raphael and Exeter Wheelers, both with four riders. The race was 40 mins plus lap, which worked out as 6 laps at an average speed of 35 km/h. And have I mentioned- the sun was out (intermittently)!
17 of us rolling out from the start- Katie Curtis (far right) is not hanging around.
So there we were riding like bats out of hell when what should happen- the lead girls took the wrong turn! I hate to say it, but you know…I told you so! Everything calmed down a bit while everyone got back together, but that didn’t last long. Soon enough the attacks started going off the front, with the VC St Raphael riders invariably involved. There was also a strong showing from Vittoria Bossi (Zippi’s Ladies) , Katie Curtis, Adele Martin (Hope Factory) and Louise Benn (Exeter Wheelers).
Jenny Hudson and Katie Curtis on the attack.
However whilst some of these attacks looked like they could be trouble, none of them stuck for more than a lap, with various people doing the work to chase them down. By our 4th or 5th lap Ayse Vahiboglu (Exeter Wheelers) was driving the pace up and stringing out the field. This stopped the attacks going for a short while, which was a nice relief. The field was now getting pretty twitchy and nervous coming into the bell lap.
In the final lap Marianne Britten (VC St Raphael) went on the attack, with Katie Curtis bridging across to her about a third of the way round. These girls looked for all the world like they might stay away- gaining 200m or so on the main field. However there seemed to be enough people in the group who wanted it to come down to a sprint. With about half a lap to go the main field started to put the hammer down, and with about 400m to go and going into the final corner a last ditched push from Claire Elworthy (Exeter Wheelers) all but closed the gap.
By this point the sprinters were all moving up the group, myself included. The sprint started straight out of the final corner, with about 250m to the line. I could pretend I knew what happened, but I wont! All I know is Adele Martin came past at some point, and there a was a bunch of four just behind me so I had to keep the foot down!
The finish- Adele Martin takes the win, myself in 2nd, Laura Clode 3rd and Katie Curtis in 4th.
So there we have it, the 2nd race of the series finished with Adele Martin (Hope Factory) taking the line honours, myself (Elena Bremer – Exeter Wheelers) in 2nd and Laura Clode (VC St Raphael) in 3rd.
Thanks to our sponsors Greens of Devon and the Bike Shed for providing the wonderful prizes of Flowers for the winner, Chef’s Garnish Boxes and Bontranger R4, R3 and R2 tyres for the top three. Thanks also to race organisers Somerset Road Club, and to the series supporters Alpha Vae Solar, Velo Brands and the Handmade Cyclist. Sign up to the series here for your chance to win some great prizes from these guys- it wont cost you a penny!
Also thanks to Ian Derbridge and Ivan Jordan for the photos!
More photos available on Flickr (Click here to view) from Ann and Richard Owens, thank you both!
The next series event is the Div Champs on 19th May, hopefully see you there! See the bottom of the post for full results- if you spot an error please do correct me!
If you want to see the video of the finish it’s available on Facebook by clicking here.
| 1 |
Adele Martin |
Hope Factory |
| 2 |
Elena Bremer |
Exeter Wheelers |
| 3 |
Laura Clode |
VC St Raphael |
| 4 |
Katie Curtis |
|
|
| 5 |
Ellie Gilham |
VC St Raphael |
| 6 |
Alex Sheehan |
One & All |
| 7 |
Jenny Hudson |
VC St Raphael |
| 8 |
Claire Elworthy |
Exeter Wheelers |
| 9 |
Jess Hill |
Cardiff Ajax |
| 10 |
Emma Sainsbury-Munn |
VC Bristol |
| 11 |
Vittoria Bossi |
Zippis Ladies |
| 12 |
Louise Benn |
Exeter Wheelers |
| 13 |
Sally Edney |
North Devon Wheelers |
| 14 |
Marianne Britten |
VC St Raphael |
| 15 |
Mary Mcfadzean |
CS Dynamo |
| 16 |
Sorrelle Johnston |
RU Training Today |
| DNF |
Ayse Vahiboglu |
Exeter Wheelers |
by Elena Bremer | Apr 19, 2013
Newquay Velo Road Race- where to start!
Being British I might start with the weather; it was foul! Driving down there the wind was buffeting cars around the road so it was a bit concerning the effect it might have on a mere bike racer! It was raining too, just to add to the charm. But on the positive side it was quite warm, reading 12 degrees on my garmin.
The race course was a triangular layout, the start and finish were on the first leg, half way up a significant but not too steep hill. To add to the fun there was the wind, which seemed to have chosen to blow as hard as it could down said hill! The second leg was downhill with a couple of short sharp undulations. And the final leg was a pretty flat run in to the bottom of the hill.
Unsurprisingly at sign on it became clear that we would be racing with a smaller field than anticipated, due no doubt to the horrible conditions, but still 11 women signed on and lined up for the race. Heading out onto the course the rain began and we all settled down for what we hoped would be an uneventful, but challenging race.
The race started on the hill on the A39, the hill combined with the 49 mph gusts in our faces did slow things down a bit! People were unsurprisingly not that keen to ride on the front, but we did eventually get to the left hand turn where things started to pick up. For a start we had a tail wind and it was downhill!
Mathilde Pauls (Exeter Wheelers CC) chose this point to attack and got clear of the bunch by a good few hundred meters by the second left turn. However things went a little amiss here when the Race Car took the wrong turn. Mathilde and the lead car proceeded to take a wiggly route through various country lanes back to the course – Mathilde at this point oblivious to the fact they were lost! Meanwhile the majority of the rest of the women’s field carried on along the wrong road, heading down wind and down hill. Having ridden 3.5km in the wrong direction our commisaire in the following car eventually managed to get our attention to stop us, turn us round and take us back to the course!
By this point Mathilde and her lost lead car were back on the A39. The call was made to stop Mathilde while the rest of us got ourselves going back in the right direction. So Mathilde, still pretty perplexed about what was going on, was ushered into the lead car to keep warm while they waited for us.
Back with the main group we had just reached the corner where we had taken the wrong turn initially, and were about to get racing again. However this wasn’t to be! On the corner a wet drain wiped out one bike, taking down a few others and stopping most of the field. Cath Newton (Newquay Velo CC), Claire Elworthy (Exeter Wheelers CC) and myself (EWCC) were all that remained of the main group. Following some deliberation we decided to carry on racing. Mathilde was restarted as we approached up the hill, and waited to join our group.
This was the final lap, with this in mind me and Mathilde put in a couple of attacks on the second leg, both of which were chased down. It was then Cath’s turn to take a dig, attacking on the second small climb she split the group, only Mathilde could hold her wheel. Claire closed the gap before the second turn, where Cath and Claire took the correct turn, but Mathilde and her friend in the lead car tried to go AWOL again! Mathilde did the quickest U-turn witness by man and was soon back with Cath and Claire.
It all started getting tactical now. With two Exeter Wheelers in the group, and one just off the back, Cath was left to do most of the work along the final leg. On reaching the bottom of the hill to the finish Mathilde launched another attack. This attack split the group again with the biting headwind making the job of getting up the hill even trickier. The three leaders proceeded to “crawl” up the hill in a gripping, but pretty slow moving finale of an eventful race!
So Mathilde Pauls (EWCC) took the win, closely followed by Cath Newton (NVCC) and Claire Elworthy (EWCC). The rest of the splintered field rolled individually, each fighting the cruellest wind possible up the hill to the finish. Louise Benn (EWCC) came back, having hit the deck in the earlier crash to finish in 5th, not far behind myself (EWCC), I never recovered from Cath’s attack. A hard day’s racing for all I think!
After the finish we all headed back race HQ to get dry and warm with a cuppa and some delicious cakes. The prize giving took place before the men’s 2/3/4 race briefing so there was a good crowd to support us; I think the chaps were marvelling at our brilliant prizes!
Thanks to the Bike Shed for providing Bontranger R2, R3 and R4 tyres for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Also to Greens of Devon who made up a beautiful bunch of flowers for the winner and gave out 3 Chef’s Garnish boxes. And last but not least thanks to Alpha Vae Solar who gave us some SIS Sports products for the prize stash!
Thanks also to the event organisers Newquay Velo, and all who help out in proper nasty conditions! Also thanks to Primal for providing the QOM prize – won by Mathilde after her jolly through the lanes!
I lost track of who got what on the prizes front in the end but everyone looked very happy despite the drama of our race and that is the importat thing. At least things can only get better for the Series!
The next event is Ilton Crit on Sunday 21st April at Ilton’s Merryfield airbase, It is a great course for novices but has plenty of opportunity for more experienced racer to make it interesting too! Open to Men E1/2/3, Women and Juniors For more information click here to be taken to the British Cycling entry page. https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/91956/South-West-Regional-Road-Race-Championships#entry
For more information on South West Women’s Race Series visit: http://swwomensraceseries.wordpress.com/
See you there for more prizes, points and fun and games!
Newquay Velo Road Race Results
1st Mathilde Pauls – Exeter Wheelers
2nd Cath Newton – Newquay Velo
3rd Claire Elworthy – Exeter Wheelers
4th Ellie Bremer – Exeter Wheelers
5th Louise Benn – Exeter Wheelers
6th Gail Aspden – Squadra Donne-Shutt VR
7th Alex Sheehan – One & All
8th Sorrelle Johnston – Rutrainingtoday
DNF Kirsty Harries
DNF Mel King – Newquay Velo
DNF Dee Richards – Tavistock Wheelers
You must be logged in to post a comment.