Midland DC

MIDLANDS SPORTING COURSES 2012

£10 for any club, £5 individual
Trophies for Men,Women,Juniors,Team prizes
Prizes for all Qualifiers

7 events must be ridden for men and women, 3 for juniors

Cheques to Alex Laycock, 23 Ascot Close,Stratford upon Avon.CV37 9FN
Tel:01789 205974

It is with sadness we report the death of John Cuthbert, formerly of Litchfield CCC.

John was Midland District Secretary from 1980-1985 and from 1997-1999.

We extend our sympathies to Maureen and family.

There are more details on the Yorkshire RC website www.yorkshirerc.org.uk

Thank you to all those who have completed my survey. Here is the link to the leaflet as promised.

Miranda Harris

Key Nutritional Facts

After a quiet month in August the season has finished with a flourish in the Midlands District. No fewer than seven events took place in September and then, to conclude, the Team Midland 10 just sneaked in on 2^nd October. There was a good range of 10-mile events to choose from in September, along with the Banbury Star CC 25 at Princethorpe and the popular double-header hill-climb promoted by the Warwicks RC.

Many congratulations to Warwicks RC club member Mick Harbourne who earned himself his highest points score and placing yet in the Team Midland 10 and so moves up to 3^rd-Cat. Meanwhile Gez Taylor (Clevedon & Dist RC) has been busy in 10s and so with strong performances in the Leamington C&AC and Coventry RC 10s rises to 2^nd-Cat. Tim Hastie (Rugby RCC) has also made undeniable progress coming 12^th in the Leamington 10 and securing his promotion to 2^nd-Cat.

A rider who has found some excellent end-of-season form is Steve Batsford (Banbury Star CC). Steve stormed to 2^nd place in his own club's 25 promotion and so cruised to 1^st-Cat status. And finally a massive "well done" to Adam Hart (Worcester St. John's CC) who has finally struck gold at the close of 2011 with two more great results in the Coventry RC 10 and VC Sevale 10. These results nudge him into the Elites where he has been knocking on the door all season - brilliant work, Adam!

Riders are only given a category if they have completed five counting events in the previous 12 months. Each month some riders return to higher categories by regaining five results and others come straight in at the higher categories making their first appearance in the categories. This month the following riders are returning to the categories having ‘dropped below the radar' with fewer than 5 results for a while:

• Richard Bradley (Team i-Ride) - Elite
• Richard Bray (Rugby Velo) - 1st Cat
• David Barnes (Echelon - Rotor) - 1st Cat
• Preston Eckloff (Warwickshire Road Club) - 3rd Cat
• George Bate (MJS Racing) - 3rd Cat
• Colin Williamson (Solihull CC) - 3rd Cat
• Simon Darrall (MJS Racing) - 3rd Cat
• Mike Amery (VC Sevale) - 3rd Cat
• Martin Osman (MJS Racing) - 3rd Cat

Special congratulations to Richard Bradley on returning to racing in the Coventry RC 10 after his nasty accident in the Coventry CC ‘Diana Cooke' 10 at the end of April. Also, Richard Bray deserves a mention as he was in a catgeory before but he was a 3^rd Cat - this time he has reappeared as a 1^st-Cat! And finally Colin Williamson has returned to the categories as a 3^rd-Cat although previously he was only a 4^th. Well done to all of the above.

These riders have completed five rides for the first time and come straight in with a category above 4^th-cat. Congratulations to:

• Eoin O'Flynn (Leamington C&AC) - 3rd Cat
• David Jones (Zemblanity RT) - 3rd Cat
• Paddy Allaway (Beacon RCC) - 3rd Cat
• Suzy Patience (Banbury Star CC) - 3rd Cat
  

And so that closes the time trial season in the Midlands. We hope you have enjoyed looking at the rankings this season and perhaps setting yourself your own personal target for improving your performance, moving up the rankings, increasing your points score or being promoted up a category.

A reminder that for anyone not in an age-category in the rankings do drop a note to Steve Lockwood with your date of birth - whatever age you are, young or old. You can find an easy link to do this on the age-categories page.

The Midlands SPOCO series is over for another year. Thank you ALL for taking part by pedalling and helping at events.  The final result can be viewed at http://spoco.midlanddc.org.uk/

Rob Weare, Leamington C and AC, once again walked away with the trophy with Neil Dallaway, Birmingham CC, and Tony Kiss, Stratford CC, snapping at his heels,......Tony however has won the team prize with Martin Millington and Ewan Gibb from Stratford CC.

Michelle Parsons from Team Echelon beat me, Alex Laycock, by 4 points to win the ladies cup,well deserved (my second place was more by fluke rather than speed).

We have 2 joint winners for the Junior Cup: Cameron Foster, Team Zappis and Alex Hamer, Severn Valley Velo.

Ironically the event that made me initally conjure up this Spoco series, the Speedwell BC wonderful 36 miler, had to be cancelled due to lack of entries.  In 2012 I'm having a stab at promoting it in September - my 2012 goal will be to have a record number of entries for this event.  Dont pencil it into your diaries- make the date free in INK!

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE, including Steve lockwood, the Webmaster.

Alex Laycock

Miranda Harris writes:

For those of you who don't know me, I am the new VTTA press secretary. I seem to have inherited a few similar positions over the last two years, which has made a pleasant change from some of the other writing I do. It's always good to write about something one is passionate about specially when there are some interesting and amusing characters to liven up what could be a rather dry numbers game. I will try my hardest to provide you with both.

Although it seemed a strange time to take over the position, it does provide me with time over the winter to get to know a few more participants. For my first report, I thought I should either go along to the race or take part myself. After a year- long absence from racing, too boring to explain why, I surprised myself by appearing on the start line for the final counting race of the VTTA Points Series.

As a local girl, I know the course really well and often cycle along the road through Harvington. More often than not it is windy and this morning was no exception. Several riders commented afterwards that they watched their speeds drop with dismay as they fought the southerly head wind to the first roundabout at Norton. After that it eased off but not as much as one expected or wished for and it was only on the dual carriageway heading for home, when the full benefit of the wind could be felt.

Enough of the introduction, what about the result? It was a very well subscribed race, hosted by Echelon Cycles with 78 riders taking part - 31 part of the VTTA series. The race was won by Jon Simpkins, Drag2Zero just sneaking under twenty minutes by one second. It was good to see one of our VTTA participants, Rob Weare, Leamington C and AC (27.46) on the podium in joint third place with Adam Hart from Worcester St John CC. They both clocked 21.20. Most impressive were the four riders who took the Standard prizes, with three of them making up the Team on Standard. John Dixson, Echelon-Rotor (33.02) was first with a sizzling time of 23.10. Dixson knew he was on for a good time when he got to the first roundabout in eight minutes and his time was the fastest recorded for the over 67's. Team mate Alan Coburn (34.55) was second and reasonably pleased with his time of 25.50 considering he was feeling under the weather. In joint third were Brian Newton, also Echelon-Rotor (32.46) and Michael Harborne, Warwickshire Road Club (31.45). Their times were 24.32 and 23.31 respectively.

In the 40 - 49 age category, Mark Mullender, Walsall RCC (27.20) was the fastest rider in 22.08 and club mate Stephen Wilkins (28.38) was fastest after Rob Weare in the 50 - 58's with 21.57.  Walsall RCC has obviously been putting in some serious training as they were top of the 59 - 66 category as well! Philip Brown (29.48) finished in 15th place with 22.18.

First female VTTA rider was Arja Scarsbrook, Echelon-Rotor (32.30) with 24.56 followed closely by Moira Goodway, Banbury Star CC (32.30) in 25.12 with third female rider Fenella Brown, Redditch Road & Path CC (27.33) recording 27.29. Fastest woman overall was Suzy Patience, Banbury Star CC who was pleased with a new PB of 23.40.

So how did the series finish? In the over 67's there were six riders who qualified - things looked fairly comfortable for Alan Colburn who finished with 77 points having ridden five events. Murray Kirton, A5 Rangers CC rode six and wasn't too far behind with 73 points. Michael Harbourne finished with 73 after four events.

Once again in the 59 - 66 age band there were six riders who completed the minimum of four races which is what both first and second place riders did. Philip Brown took top position with 76 points and three points behind him was John Grumbley, Coventry RC. Both Robert Franks, Redditch Road & Path and Stephen Lloyd finished with 67 points but Franks took third place.

The 50 - 58 band was a much more exclusive affair all together with just ten riders competing for the prizes and only half of those eligible. With both riders almost neck and neck at the penultimate race, it was Stephen Wilkins who pulled ahead by just one point and an overall score of 77. Rob Weare finished second and Andrew Simpkins Solihull CC was four points behind with 72.

Finally in the biggest category of all, there were only three riders who managed to ride four events. Mark Mullander was a clear winner with a top score of 80 points so a big well done to him. Paul Castle, Worcester St John CC finished second with 62

Miranda Harris

Here is the final result for the VTTA points series.  Click "read more" to see the full tables.

	Jackie Harris Most improved overal

In the last event of the Women's Series the weather was overcast but fortunately, although it had been threatening to rain, it stayed dry and the wind dropped compared to earlier in the day. As well as a warm evening the reception from Shirley RC was very hospitable with plenty of marshals and a results board with runners relaying the times back as quickly as possible.

To all member clubs, the CTT Midland District urges you to register your club for the above. All riders taking part in your events will be 3rd party insurance covered as normal.