Sunday once again saw a selection of New Forest riders head to the Wessex Cyclocross League. A local event at Southampton Sports Centre resulted in the best turn out yet. The course was fun with a good range of obstacles. In amongst the many corners there were multiple banks to ride both up and down, a section through the woods and a tricky off camber. Saturday night’s rain added a few slippy bits but generally there was very little mud on the course.

Up first was Matt Knight in the V40 race. A fast start set him up well for a good performance and Matt finished 47th.

The New Forest women were out in force with the usual suspects Catherine Pascoe and Emma Shepherd joined by first time CX rider Jess Fitzwarren and also Mrs Knight. All the New Forest ladies put in strong performances from the start. The women’s race was cut short after 20 minutes with a red flag due to an injured rider on the course needing medical assistance. Luckily all New Forest riders are okay and the rider was taken to hospital with a broken ankle. Results were taken from the end of lap 2. Jess finished 32nd overall, 11th senior. Catherine was 22nd, 6th in her age category and Emma finished 10th, improving from her previous results to finish 5th senior.

Jonathan Chadwick returned to cyclocross for the first time this season. The V50s managed to get their full race in with Jonathan finishing 45th.

After the delays of the day, the senior men’s race was shortened to 50 minutes. Joe Shepherd once again the only New Forest Rider on the start line. Joe had a good start which, combined with his lack of crashing, kept him mid pack to finish 22nd.