While more sensible club members spent this Sunday sheltering from the weather, three brave NFCC souls headed north for (interestingly) the southern regional cyclocross championships at Dalton Barracks.

Fortunately for Emma Shepherd, Jay Tarrant and Joe Shepherd, the course at Dalton is remarkably resilient to rain. Despite being incredibly sloppy, it was still riding nicely even after Saturday’s downpours (which were set to continue). With the wind howling and the rain hammering down, the timing and sign-on gazebos had been replaced by vans. Most competitors decided to forego a warm-up and remain in the shelter of their vehicles until the last possible second.

Coming off the back of illness in the week, Jay was gridded about 16th due to the mixed up field that comes with the regional championships. Despite this, he got a good start, until the second corner where a rider behind managed to catch his rear qr skewer with their front wheel. After a quick check to assess any damage, Jay powered on through the rapidly growing puddles. His eventual 2nd place finish is made all the more impressive by the appalling conditions and sub-optimal opening lap. Chapeau.

Emma lined up for the women’s race in possibly the worst conditions of the day, another jumbled-up grid left Emma following the wheels of the junior riders on lap 1. This proved to be a good thing as Emma quickly stretched out a gap to her nearest competitors. A couple of spills on the slick mud gave the chasing riders hope and the gaps narrowed at the midpoint of the race. Fortunately, Emma found a second wind and was able to kick on to the finish where she was 2nd senior adding another silver medal to the NFCC haul.

By the start of the Senior Open race, the light was beginning to fade although the wind showed signs of easing off. Thanks to the mixed-up gridding Joe found himself on the front row for the first time! A scorching start saw Joe in 2nd place for the first half lap before some of the usual suspects passed and attempted to ride away. Not to be dissuaded, Joe put in some consistently quick laps to reel in riders who are usually in a completely different race! Crossing the line it was difficult to distinguish between the riders as everyone had turned a similar mud colour, but squinting hard a New Forest Jersey could just be made out in 4th place! Thanks to the winner being ‘not from round here’ this meant a 3rd place in the race for regional champion and a bronze medal to wrap up what was a very successful day for the Forest!

As well as being the regional championships this race was also round 9 of the Wessex Cyclocross league, round 10 is more local next Sunday at Southampton Outdoor Sports Centre and can be entered here: https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/310147/Wessex-Cyclocross-League-Round-10—Crabwood-Cycling-Club