Fantastic third place as Spalding CC’s Wallis enjoys fine mountain bike debut

Spalding Cycling Club’s star performer Josh Wallis turned his hand to Mountain Bike racing at the ‘Crank it up Leeds’ XCO race last Sunday.

The start conditions were excellent with firm ground and sunshine.

He got an average start but soon worked his way up to the lead group but, after 40 minutes, the heavens opened and the course became slippery and muddy.

The lead group thinned down to four and, given his inexperience in this type of riding, he was delighted with a third place.

• Spalding’s Barry Drew and fellow South Holland rider Chris Ward, who currently rides for Team Swift, journeyed down to Newmarket to compete in the Veteran Time Trials Association 25 mile National Championship.

The event saw riders from as far afield as Middlesborough and Hampshire, with a total of 150 entries on a course comprising the A11/A14.

It was a straight out and back course with a reasonable road surface and a few gentle slopes. It is renowned as a fast course and although it was not too breezy many of the early riders in particular found it hard work and their times were slower than they expected.

Drew finished in a disappointing 1.09.18hrs, which was way over five minutes slower than his previous 25 mile effort, while Ward recorded 56.01mins.

• Spalding CC’s Tom Wright had his first outing as a second category rider in the Junior CiCLE Classic 60-mile hilly course at Melton Mowbray.

This type of race starts with riders cycling in a neutral zone and then when the starter drops the flag the race for real begins, so positioning in this zone is essential.

Wright positioned himself ideally, but there was a crash in the neutral zone and when the race restarted he was not in such a good position.

This set the pattern for the ride; narrow roads and riders battling for position caused several minor crashes which he got caught behind.

He made several attempts to make it back to the lead bunch, but eventually he got distanced from the main group and finished with a bunch 12 minutes behind.

Fortunately, he remained unscathed.

• Crashes seemed to be the order of the day as Spalding CC’s Neil Palmer and Frazer Wallis competed in the Velo 99 road race at Rampton.

There was a crash on the day that was serious enough for the results to be voided.

It was a little deflating for the duo, having ridden 25 miles in 1.05.00hrs and 1.08.00hrs respectively.

Both managed to survive the meeting unscathed.

• The third round of Hereward League took place at Bainton and was organised by Fenland Clarion.

Yet again the weather took a turn for the worse and, as a result, fewer riders took part – particularly from Spalding.

This was largely due to the possibility of dangerous conditions that included standing water.

• The Lincolnshire Road Race Association 50-mile TT saw four Spalding riders taking part.

This particular distance did not take place last year and Spalding’s Gary Bentley was determined that it came back into the calendar.

He was rewarded for his perseverance by a turn out of 49 riders.

The course was a variation on the normal A52/A15 one starting near the junction of Horbling Road and the A52 and heading to Quarrington Roundabout at Sleaford. Then it was back to Donington and back to Quarrington, before the return to finish near the start.

The conditions more or less stayed dry until the end, but as the morning went on a gentle breeze from the SSW turned quite blustery.

That ensured that the two times riders headed south from Quarrington to the Osbournby roundabout were quite exhausting.

The winner was Andrew Whitely (Shelfrec CC) in 1.49.54hrs. Of the Spalding quartet that rode, Neil Palmer was by far the quickest coming in seventh in 1.58.37hrs.

Andrew Gurney was 25th in 2.15.58hrs and Barry Drew came 38th in 2.40.13hrs, while team-mate James Bramma was unfortunately unable to finish.