Sherwood Categories Round Up
2011 British Mountain Bike Series Round 1
27 March 2011, Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire
Elite Report | Full Results | Event Details
Claire Bowen survived a mid race scare when Ruth Owen-Evans bagan to close her down, putting in a strong final lap to take the Expert Women's race by half a minute. Laura Massey also finished strongly to claim third.
Lee Westwood also had his work cut out in the Expert Men's race, only throwing off the attentions of Ryan Henry in the closing stages, with Henry finishing just 9 seconds down. Matt Clinton was also in touch for most of the race and was third at just 16 seconds.
The Veteran Women's race saw a real see-saw battle, with Brenda Callander and Nicky Hughes trading the lead, before Callander finally made the race her own on the final lap, just edging clear to win by four seconds. Helen MacGregor was third. Ian Jeremiah won perhaps the closest race of the day, taking the Veteran Men's event on the line from Lewis King, Mark Hutt and Darren Shepherd, four seconds separating them on the line.
In the Grand Veteran categories, Lydia Gould was in a class of her own, finishing over 18 minutes up on Fiona Paton, who was in turn 7 minutes clear of Kim Long. But in the men's race, Jef Sharp had to come through the field after a slow start, taking the lead with a lap to go and going on to win by 23 seconds from Bruce Rollinson, with Pete Harris third. Victor Barnett was the super-veteran race winner.
It was a similar story in the Junior races, with Bethany Crumpton easing to a comfortable win by over a minute from Katy Winton, with Hannah Ferguson third. Meanwhile, Grant Ferguson took the men's race by just 3 seconds from Matt Sumpton: crucially, Ferguson entered the final twisting wooded singletrack section, just before the finish, in the lead and was able to control events from there in to the line. Hugo Humphreys was third, three minutes down.
Ffion James and Calum Magowan were both convincing winners in the Juvenile races, going away on the first lap and staying clear to win by similar margins of just over 90 seconds. Grace Garner and Sarah Lomas and Thomas Craig and Arthur Green completed the podiums in these categories.
In the Masters' races, Laura Sampson took the women's event by the scruff of the neck and was clear throughout, winning by almost 3 minutes from Caroline Goward and Emma Birtles. Geoff Beetham started steadily in the men's race and moved to the front of the race alongside Ed Moseley by the third lap. He then moved clear on his own on lap four and was able to keep Moseley and Matt Dennis at bay on the final lap to claim the win.
The Open races saw wins for Christina Wiejak and Dave Price, both dominating almost from the start. Gemma Sargent and Julie Elder and Tom Ward and Gordon Kalwk completed the respective podiums.
Fern Henry was in a class of her own in the Sport Women race, turning in the three quickest laps and finishing over a minute clear of Nadia Wouters, with Rebecca Cunnell third. Jason Bouttell had a lot tougher task winning the Sport Men category: he built an early lead but was pegged back by John Hopkinson, Ed Roberts and Michael Jones. Bouttell went clear with Hopkinson on the penultimate lap and just out-sprinted his rival to take the win. Roberts and Jones then contested a similarly close sprint for third, with Roberts just getting the verdict.
Alice Barnes produced a strong second and final lap to pull clear of Lucy Grant and win the Youth Female race by 45 seconds. Zoe Armstrong was third. Fast-starting Stuart Wilcox dominated the Youth male race, putting almost half a minute into his rivals on a frenetic opening lap and going on to win by 58 seconds from Iain Paton, who just out-sprinted Mike Thompson who was third.
