Welcome to the home of cycling in the New Forest
2009/10 Season
Weeks 1&2:
The Winter Track League at Calshot has started and 2 New Forest riders have taken part so far in
the first 2 weeks. In week 1 Andy Betteridge clocked up 2 sprint victories before circumbing to poor positioning in the
final - having beaten the winner convincingly in the semi-final. In week 2, Hugo Walters took part in his first track league
meet and picked up a 3rd place in the U16/U14 handicap race...as well as a load of experience for future events.
Week 3:
4 Forest
riders competed this week and some marked success was noted .. with the red, white & green prominent during the afternoon.
Hugo
continued his improvement and racked up a handful of 2nd places ... which don't tell the whole story. Hugo was tactically astitute
this week and an 8 lap event saw him stalk the pack before jumping from back to front and leading the field a merry dance. Hanging
out there for 3 laps, hugo was eventually reeled in by just one chasing rider ... the others were spent. This was only
Hugo's 2nd outing in competitive track racing .. the future looks good (Editors note: I'm sure I spotted our BC coach casting
an interested eye over preceedings!) .. keep up the good work Hugo.
In the seniors event Patrick Walters competed, not quite meeting
his son's exacting standards, but enjoying it none the less. At the sharp end of affairs, Phil Glasgow picked up his maiden
victory with a team effort in the distance race to close off the meeting. A couple of laps into the endurance test, Andy Betteridge
went off the front to get the pack chasing. Having held them off for half a dozen laps the pack were back on level terms.
As things settled down Andy then jumped again, this time stretching the chase to nearer 10 laps ... with the pack working hard, crucially
Phil was able to sit in and keep his powder dry. Back on terms again and some teams thought they'd beaten the tactics, but Phil
put in a massive push with 4 or 5 laps to go and only 1 rider was able to stay with him. Phil's superior stamina prevented his
rival from passing and he crossed the line for an enjoyable victory.
Week 4:
Andy, Phil and the rest of the team were taking a
well-earned rest after the 24 hour ride for Children in Need so didn't make the latest Sunday Calshot Winter League ride. In
fact, there was a good turnout of youngsters as quite a number of the other local adults were also absent. Hugo Walters was
the sole New Forest CC representative, riding in the U14/U16 category, and he picked up a few more points from the Points race
and by winning the Handicap race.