Friday before-last saw the club hold its first Annual Awards event under its new name.
On a great night enjoyed by all, the club formally recognised the outstanding achievements of several athletes, who not only achieved success against the clock but also embodied the club ethos of fair play and supportiveness towards their fellow athletes.
Winning the blue ribbon awards of Male and Female athletes of The Year; Rob Wilson and Kate Turner were deservedly rewarded for outstanding seasons in which Wilson went under ten hours for an iron-distance event and Turner built upon her award-winning novice season in 2009 to win the toughest round of this year’s Club Championship and finish runner up overall in the competition.
Drew Lowrie and Elodie Levis were popular and deserving winners of the Most Improved Male and Most Improved Female awards respectively, with Lowrie coming on great strides in both training and racing and Irving show great commitment and tenacity to build upon her novice season.
Adam Laycock and Gemma Sargent were crowned overall club champions, as both excelled across the three race series that consisted of a sprint distance, Olympic distance and middle distance event. Laycock in particular, an iron-distance specialist, put in a truly dominating performance across all three rounds to show some blistering speed and power in the shorter distance races against specialist short course athletes. And Sargent’s two victories and a 2nd place ensured that she also wrapped up the female championship in strong fashion.
There was also success for fellow ironman specialist and veteran athlete Gavin May, who finished runner-up in the Mens Club Championship ahead of Steffan Ford, who put his short-course skills to good use to finish third overall.
In the Women’s championship, Kate Turner finished in an excellent second place overall, with Katy Jinks also having a great season to finish round out the women’s championship podium.
And lastly; Tim Smith was a very popular winner of the newly created Team-mate of the Year award. Smith’s contribution as both an athlete and coach were recognised by his peers in winning an award that is voted for by the entire club membership.
On the racing front; last Saturday saw nine athletes brave the freezing cold conditions to race in Round 8 of the Central Cyclocross League event, held in Reading.
On a deceptively challenging course that required riders to carry their bikes for large sections of the course, it was Simon Hall (6 laps – 1:04:28) who finished first for the club. Ian Hobbs was next across the line (6 laps – 1:07:54), with Katy Jinks rounding out the top three (6 laps – 1:09:03).
Also competing were; Tony Shortland (6 laps -1:09:37), Tim Smith (6 laps – 1:10:08), Simon Douglas (5 laps – 1:01:53), Anna Holden (5 laps – 1:02:38), Steve Mussett (5 laps – 1:02:55) and Keith Perry (5 laps – 1:03:47).
