Very wet and muddy conditions faced the competitors in the third round of the Eastern Cyclo Cross Championships at Baldock in Hertfordshire on Saturday.

Mike Bowen improved on the excellent debut he made last week, finishing 18^th in a very large field in the vets race, stating that conditions were so boggy that ‘if you stopped pedalling you simply stopped!’ He was joined by Soren Sjolin, who had never even watched a cyclo cross race up until now! He borrowed Adrian Grimwood’s bike and shoes, and despite thinking he was ‘about to die’ after three laps, he completed the race in a very creditable 59^th place out of 75 starters.

His son Jonathan also made his debut, and showed the same huge potential that he has shown on the track by finishing a brilliant 11^th from 32 in the U16 event. Alan Trolove had one both rounds so far in this category, but came to grief with three corners to go on the final lap this week, having sat comfortably in a group of three that had got away from the field. He still finished third, which means he still leads the class overall.

Alan rode again on Sunday in the London Area League, and was pleased to finish fourth in a very competitive race.

Not actually cyclo cross but the Dusk till Dawn mountain bike race took place on Saturday night. I’ve heard that it rained more or less all the time and the event turned out to be a war of attrition. I understand there were several West Suffolk members taking part, and I hope that we can report their results shortly, but one result I have heard is that of Glynn Smith. Out of 175 riders tackling the whole event as solo riders, Glynn finished 7th! ~ Chapeau! ~ as they say on EuroSport.