Mike Bowen had his first win of the season at the very muddy Hillyfields event in Colchester, organised by the AmisVelo club. The course was an excellent mixture of grassland and woods with a couple of short climbs and some very muddy adverse camber sections to test the skill and nerve of all the riders. Mike got the better of two close adversaries in the Vets Race and stormed home with 18 seconds to spare to reinforce his fourth place standing in the league.

Mike was one of 17 West Suffolk members taking part in the event, taking advantage of our gazebo to shelter from the inclemency between races and enjoying the camaraderie and slightly biased commentary !

Others in the vets race were Simon Elsworth 39^th, Adrian Grimwood 41^st, Barry Denny 46^th and David Griggs 59^th, with Ian Mortlock a non-starter. Matt Denny was our only finisher in the Senior race, gradually improving in 53^rd, with Richard Stiff retiring with a last-lap puncture and James Asker scoring a DNF – “too muddy!”

In the U12 race Lianna Denny also improved with a 24^th placing and in the U10’s we had four riders. Charlie Knowler has taken well to cross and came in 10^th, Harley Gregory 11^th (best U8), Oliver Griggs was disappointed with 12^th after a 4^th at the Welwyn event last week, and Victoria Asker 17^th.

The U14/16 race saw Fraser Elsworth crashing heavily and retiring with a bruised knee, whilst Sam Asker got the best of a competitive group of riders to get 12^th (2^nd U14), with brother Matt 30^th.

~ barrydenny@btinternet.com