Location: Milton Keynes Bowl, Buckinghamshire
Event: 6 November 2011
Report: Snowdon Sports/Andrew Whitehouse
Galleries: Veterans & Women | Youth | Seniors & Juniors
Seniors & Juniors: The West Midlands secured the Senior & Junior Inter-Area Team Cyclo-Cross Championships after dominating most of the categories in the annual event which this year was staged at Milton Keynes Bowl, Buckinghamshire, on Sunday.
Six podium places from a possible 12 across the main categories helped them take the overall title, although host Central Region rider Steve James secured the individual victory in the senior race.
He had been part of a trio of riders which were at the front of the race virtually throughout, alongside West Midlands riders Luke Grivell-Mellor and Alex Wellburn.
As they ploughed around the final corner, James edged ahead after overtaking a couple of back markers, while his rivals struggled to get past and had to settle for the minor placings.
At the start of the race those leading three were joined by Mike Smith (Central), Lee Westwood (West Midlands) and Will Bjergfelt (South-Western), whilethe leading group had swelled to around a dozen by lap five with Steve Adams (London), West Midlands Trio Lee Westwood, Tom Payton and Rob Burns, as well as Lee Williams (Wales) and Adam Martin (North East) all looking strong.
But James held his nerve and held off his rivals, while West Midlands took the overall senior win with quality and quantity helping them to take the Team Championships.
After the race, Andy Whitehouse spoke to Junior rider Alex Welburn, a member of the winning West Midlands team: "We had a race plan which went well, We had Luke Grivell-Mellor there to get the team a good start and to get us well placed. It worked very well with myself and luke being in the leading trio with Steve James (central).
Not to sure what really happened on the last lap Luke and myself just got caught up with a back marker, but to be honest I was on the rivet so the back marker for me didn't change my result, but we both knew we had a good shout of taking the overall with 2 riders in the top 3, so we were fairly confident as we had some good placings below with Tom Payton 10th, we knew were going to stand on the podium at least.
I had good legs today, my training is go very well at the minute and the form is there and coming off my first National win last week at Leicester it looks like its all coming together, my legs felt good throughout but with around 4 laps to go I started to get cramp and had to back of slightly but manged to ride though it."
Veterans: With two riders in the top three, Yorkshire proved strongest in the veterans category at the Inter-Area Team Championships at the Milton Keynes Bowl in Buckinghamshire on Sunday.
Former senior national champion Chris Young (Yorkshire A) led the way with a narrow victory over West Midlands rival Darren Atkins, while Noel Clough (Yorkshire A) crossed the line around ten seconds off the pace.
Those three had been away for much of the race, and Clough only dropped off the pace a little on the final lap as Atkins and Young steeled themselves for a sprint finish.
In the early exchanges they had been joined at the front by Greg Simcock (Eastern) and Mick Bell (London), with several others just off the back of the leading group.
On the second lap the leading three had started to edge narrowly ahead, while Matt Denby (Yorkshire) was also still up there with Simcock and Sean Williams (South/Wessex).
By the end of the fourth lap Williams and Simcock had dropped off about 15 seconds, while the trio forged ahead and prepared for the sprint finish, which Young led out and held with Atkins inches behind.
Women: East Midlands’ Lucy Garner secured a convincing victory in the women’s race, crossing the line around a minute ahead of her nearest rival, West Midlands’ Louise Robinson.
The pair were the only women to finish on the same lap as the veterans' race which went off just two minutes before – every other woman was lapped.
West Midlands’ Isla Rowntree had led the early exchanges with Nicola Juniper (Eastern), but before the end of the first lap Garner had hit the front and never looked back.
By the end of the third lap Garner had started catching back-markers from the veterans race, and she powered on to take the win from Robinson, while Yorkshire’s Jessie Roberts was third.
After the race, winner Lucy Garner reflected on her first race of the season: "Yes first one back and it was good to be back, I've done a few cross sessions beforehand so I felt ready to race today. I've just started back training now so I'm feeling quite fresh so I think that helped a lot. I wasn't too sure about the course at first but once I got racing I really enjoyed it and it seemed to suit me.
If I'm honest I didn't really have a plan today as it was my first race back and I wasn't sure how the legs were going to feel. I just wanted to get stuck in and see how much a could push myself. Hopefully I'll be riding next week at the National Series in Southampton. This season I'm backing off slightly with the cross as I've had a long road season but I'm always up for a cross race as they are great fun!"
Youth: The West Midlands drew first blood in the Inter-Area Team Championships, winning the youth race at the Milton Keynes Bowl in Buckinghamshire on Sunday.
Dan Fox led them home in first place, and with team-mate Jack Ravenscroft second and third-counter Chris Wellburn in seventh they took an early lead in the competition. The East Midlands were second, placing riders fourth, fifth and eighth.
Fox and Ravenscroft had been at the front from the start, sharing the lead as they headed around the first of four laps of a course which started outside the Bowl but headed inside and was mainly made up of grassed areas.
East Midlands’ James Shaw battled with them for the lead in the early stages but found the going too hard, while Wales’ Dylan Kerfoot-Robson was also up there and joined Fox and Ravenscroft for lap two.
The trio had ten seconds on Shaw and Yorkshire’s Billy Harding on the second lap, while Arthur Green (East Midlands) was also making steady progress and was heading up a group including Wellburn slightly off the pace.
Fox and Ravenscroft managed to shake off Kerfoot-Robson who had dropped 15 seconds back as they headed for the final lap, while Fox attacked to cross the line alone, 15 seconds ahead of Ravenscroft.
More later.
Results:
Senior & Junior
1 Steve James Central A 59 34
2 Luke Grivell-Mellor West Midlands A at 0-05
3 Alex Welburn West Midlands A at 0-10
4 Lee Williams Wales A at 0-42
5 Jamie Newall London A
6 Adam Martin North East A
7 Jack Clarkson Yorkshire A
8 Joe Kirkham East Midlands A
9 Crispin Doyle South/West A
10 Tom Payton West Midlands A
11 Robert Burns West Midlands A
12 Stephen Adams London A
13 Lee Westwood West Midlands A
14 Jim Bryan East Midlands A
15 William Worrall Wales A
16 Dieter Droger Yorkshire A
17 Andrew Nichols Eastern A
18 Peter Kench South/Western A
19 Sylvain Garde London A
20 Matt Woods South/West B
21 Matthew Webber London A
22 Ben Sumner Central A
23 Harry Franklin London B
24 Charles Coleman South/West B
25 Ian Taylor Yorkshire A
26 Neil Hayward West Midlands A
27 Ryan Bevis Wales A
28 Andrew Stuart East Midlands A
29 Aron Marshall East Midlands A
30 Ciaran O'Grady London A
31 Matthew Thompson Wales A
32 Scot Easter South/Western A
33 Michael Smith Central A
34 James Whatling Eastern A
35 Tom Stockhill Yorkshire A
36 Tim Guy Eastern A
37 Joe Lally Wales A
38 James Dalton Yorkshire A
39 Joe Griffiths South/Western B
40 James Furniss East Midlands A
41 Jack Finch London B
42 Joe Fox West Midlands B
43 Nathan Turner Central A
44 Lewis Tarnai-Wilson East Midlands B
45 Tony Glover North East A
46 Cameron Toms Eastern A
47 Kyle Burleigh East Midlands A
48 Will Macke Central B
49 Chris McGovern London B at 1 lap
51 Ken Haswell North East A
52 Aaron Westgarth Central C
53 Adam King Wales A
54 Jacob James West Midlands B
55 Mike Cowland Central A
56 Stephen Bradbury Central B
57 George Appleby West Midlands B
58 Ashley Dennis London B
59 Gareth Scott West Midlands B
60 Michael Raven Eastern A
61 Steve Gola Central B
62 Edward Clements Central B
63 Neil Ellison Central B
64 George Kirkin Central C
65 Sam Gilzean Central C
66 Dan Smith South/Western B
67 Jason Pitt Central B at 2 laps
68 Jamie Hawthorn Central A
69 Mike Miach Central C
70 Joel Farrow Central C
71 Anthony Lake South/Western B
72 Simon Douglas Central C
1 WEST MIDLANDS A 26
2 LONDON A 57
3 WALES 77
4 EAST MIDLANDS A 79
5 YORKSHIRE 83
6 CENTRAL A 99
7 EASTERN 133
8 SOUTH/WESTERN B 149
9 LONDON B 171
10 WEST MIDLANDS B 212
11 CENTRAL B 227
12 CENTRAL C 250
Senior Women
1 Lucy Garner East Midlands A 47 52
2 Louise Robinson West Midlands A at 0-42
3 Jessie Roberts Yorkshire A at 1min 10secs
4 Isla Rowntree West Midlands A
5 Nicola Juniper Eastern A
6 Diane Lee East Midlands A
7 Sarah Naylor East Midlands A
8 Nikola Butler Yorkshire A
9 Caroline Goward South/Wessex A
10 Christina White Central A
11 Anna Buick Eastern A
12 Penny Rowson Yorkshire A
13 Keira McVitty Eastern A
14 Elizabeth Clayton West Midlands A
15 Claire Smith South/Wessex A
16 Tracey Fletcher East Midlands A
17 Marie Jackson Yorkshire B
18 Emma Johnson Eastern B
19 Imogen Buick Eastern A
20 Rachel Mellor Yorkshire B
21 Sarah Woods South/Wessex A
22 Lynn Bland Yorkshire B
23 Rebecca Keogh West Midlands A at 1 lap
24 Paula Adams Central A
25 Bev Blakeman North East A
26 Kate Turner Central A
27 Louise Rickard Eastern B
28 Anna Cipullo South/Wessex A
29 Sherilyn Powell Eastern B
30 Katie Scotter Eastern B
31 Pam Glover North East A
32 Karen Murphy South/Western A
33 Heather Storey Central B
34 Hazel Jowett South/Western A
35 Jackie Perry Central B
36 Toni Heap Central B
37 Sue Skeggs Central B
38 Jackie Brady North East A at 2 laps
39 Nicky Volley South/Western A
1 EAST MIDLANDS A 14
2 WEST MIDLANDS 20
3 YORKSHIRE A 23
4 EASTERN A 29
5 SOUTH/WESSEX 45
6 YORKSHIRE B 59
7 CENTRAL A 60
8 EASTERN B 74
9 NORTH EAST 94
10 CENTRAL B 104
11 SOUTH/WESTERN 105
Youths
1 Danny Fox West Midlands A 28-03
2 Jack Ravenscroft West Midlands A @ 0-32
3 Dylan Kerfoot-Robson Wales A @ 0-51
4 Billy Harding Yorkshire A @ 1-02
5 James Shaw East Midlands A
6 Arthur Green East Midlands A
7 Chris Wellburn West Midlands A
8 Daniel Tulett London A
9 Jack King East Midlands A
10 Tom Weeds East Midlands A
11 Sean Dunlea Eastern A
12 Tom Franklin London A
13 David Barnes London C
14 Cameron Woolsey Central A
15 Steve Lee North East A
16 Seb Marsh Yorkshire A
17 Ethan Lee West Midlands A
18 Calum Anderton London C
19 Harvey Lowe South/Wessex A
20 Robert Rogers North West A
21 Jake Marley London A
22 Christian Braybrooke North West A
23 Thomas Butler London A
24 Matthew Worton North East A
25 Nicholas Jones Wales A
26 James Edmond North East A
27 Chris Barnes Yorkshire A
28 Theo Doncaster Eastern A
29 Zinzan Heap Central A
30 Rob Blowell South/Wessex A
31 Alex Braybrooke North West A
32 Joe Holt Wales A
33 Aidan Woolven London C
34 Ewan Grivell-Mellor West Midlands C
35 Harry Yates West Midlands C
36 Lewis Hutton Central A
37 Oliver Payton North West A
38 Sarah Lomas (G) East Midlands B
39 Luke Morgan Central A
40 Archie Wishart Eastern A
41 James Madgwick Eastern C
42 Alistair Williams Wales C
43 Joseph Fry Eastern A
44 Jessica Wilkinson (G) North West B
45 Alex Mitchell West Midlands C
46 Sam Beckingsale Wales A
47 Teifion Best Wales C
48 George Jensen Eastern C
49 Matthew Madgwick Eastern C
50 Amira Mellor (G) Yorkshire B
51 Abigail van Twisk (G) London B
52 Thomas Mein North East B
53 Jake Dobson North East B
54 Beth Hayward (G) Eastern B
55 Jack Saunders South/Wessex A
56 Jonti Heap Central C
57 Elliott Davidson North East B
58 Jessica Roberts (G) Wales B
59 Jared Brooks Wales C
60 Mitchell Powell Eastern C
61 Lucy Shaw (G) West Midlands B at 1 lap
62 Ffion James (G) Wales B
63 Martha Gill (G) North West B
64 Thomas Finch London C
65 Emily Nelson (G) West Midlands B
66 Joshua Gunn West Midlands C
67 Henrietta Colbourne (G) North West B
68 Scott Dunster Wales C
69 Grace Garner (G) East Midlands B
70 Kimberley English (G) London B
71 Laura Cheeseman (G) London B
72 Sian Botteley (G) East Midlands B
73 Anthony Anderson Central C
74 Tom Sewell South/Wessex A
75 Lucy Harper (G) Eastern B
76 Libby Greatorex (G) Yorkshire B
77 Zoe Sheehan (G) South/Western A
78 Francesca Morgan-Slader (G) Eastern B
79 Ria Mobbs (G) Central B
80 Jade Mobbs (G) Central B
81 Amy Smith (G) London B
82 Ruby Pilling (G) Yorkshire B
83 Jessica Willett (G) East Midlands C
84 Bethany George (G) South/Western A
85 Emily Haycox (G) Wales B
86 Natalie Clements (G) West Midlands B
87 Tanwen Jones (G) Wales B
88 Hannah Saville (G) Yorkshire B
89 Joshua Mitchell Central C
90 Isabel Boon (G) East Midlands C
91 Bryony Board (G) Eastern B
92 Tilly Wilks (G) East Midlands B
93 Rhianna Jones (G) South/Western A
94 Kerrie Hutchinson (G) South/Western B
95 Chloe Relph (G) West Midlands B
96 Bailey Anderson Central C
97 Harriet Moore (G) East Midlands C
98 Elizabeth Ruffley (G) Central B
99 Georgia Toner (G) East Midlands C
100 Hannah Gibbs (G) South/Western A
101 Elizabeth Shirley (G) Central B
1 WEST MIDLANDS A 10
2 EAST MIDLANDS A 20
3 LONDON A 41
4 YORKSHIRE A 47
5 WALES A 60
6 LONDON C 64
7 NORTH EAST A 65
8 NORTH WEST A 73
9 CENTRAL A 79
10 EASTERN A 79
11 SOUTH/WESSEX 104
12 WEST MIDLANDS C 114
13 EASTERN C 138
14 WALES C 147
15 NORTH EAST B 162
16 NORTH WEST B (Girls) 174
17 EAST MIDLANDS B (Girls) 179
18 LONDON B (Girls) 192
19 WALES B (Girls) 206
20 EASTERN B (Girls) 207
21 YORKSHIRE B (Girls) 208
22 WEST MIDLANDS B (Girls) 212
23 CENTRAL C 218
24 SOUTH/WESTERN A (Girls) 254
25 CENTRAL B (Girls) 256
26 EAST MIDLANDS C (Girls) 269
Veterans
1 Chris Young Yorkshire A 41 49
2 Darren Atkins West Midlands A at 0-00
3 Noel Clough Yorkshire A at 0-15
4 Matt Denby Yorkshire A at 0-22
5 Greg Simcock Eastern A
6 Sean Williams South/Wessex A
7 Steve Knight West Midlands A
8 Mick Bell London A
9 Keith Sheridan South/Western A
10 Mike Young Yorkshire A
11 Pete Harris East Midlands A
12 Richard Binks Yorkshire B
13 Philip Roach West Midlands A
14 Dave Phillips South/Western C
15 Dave McMullen Central A
16 Gavin Rumbles Central A
17 Will Girvan South/Wessex A
18 Harvey Levann East Midlands A
19 Martin Carter Eastern A
20 Jonathan Watson Yorkshire B
21 Greg Slater West Midlands A
22 Russell Jones London A
23 Pete Smith Central A
24 Mick Davies West Midlands B
25 Clive Harrison Eastern A
26 Jason Hawkins West Midlands B
27 Malcolm Cross South/Wessex A
28 Mick Rowson Yorkshire B
29 Gary Strickland East Midlands A
30 Chris Green East Midlands A
31 Lorenzo Buratti West Midlands B
32 Pete Hutchinson South/Western B
33 Martin O'Grady London A
34 Steve Brown South/Western A
35 Kevin Payton West Midlands C
36 John Mein North East A
37 Anthony Dyment South/Wessex A
38 Garry Clark South/Western A
39 Mick Perrin East Midlands B
40 Dave Hobbs South/Western C
41 Philip Peacock Eastern A
42 Steven Brazier North East A
43 Andy Roberts South/Western B
44 Chris Smith Central C
45 Richard Collins Central A
46 Steve Barnes Yorkshire B
47 Robert Burns West Midlands C
48 Andy Cosgrove North East A
49 Steve Proud West Midlands C
50 Pete Scott South/Western B
51 Tony Davis South/Western B
52 Sean Storey Central B at 1 lap
53 Tim Davis Central B
54 Andy Smith South/Western C
55 Mark Cook Central B
56 Andy Edmond North East A
57 Tony Turner South/Western C
58 Nev Martin North East B
59 Mark Anstee Central C
60 John Rice West Midlands C
61 Gary Townsend West Midlands B
62 Gary Worton North East B
63 Kevin Morgan Central C
64 Andrew Murray Central B
65 Dan Clemens Central C
66 Jamie Brady North East B
1 YORKSHIRE A 8
2 WEST MIDLANDS A 22
3 EASTERN A 49
4 SOUTH/WESSEX 50
5 CENTRAL A 54
6 EAST MIDLANDS A 58
7 YORKSHIRE B 60
8 LONDON 63
9 WEST MIDLANDS B 81
10 SOUTH/WESTERN A 81
11 SOUTH/WESTERN C 108
12 SOUTH/WESTERN B 125
13 NORTH EAST A 126
14 WEST MIDLANDS C 131
15 CENTRAL B 160
16 CENTRAL C 166
17 NORTH EAST B 186
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
