Another superb performance from Paul Fielding saw him finish 18^th in the Divisional Championships report follows:

 

Divisional Championships

 

The race started after a 5 mile neutralised ride out from Saffron Walden. Once the flag went down the pace went through the roof in typical Divs style. There were many people forcing the pace and straight away Duncan Urquhart (Endura Racing) and Ben Thompson (BMC UK RT), made a break for it. I think most of the bunch were content to let it go at such an early stage.

 

With these two riders up the road the pace did not calm - I for one totally wrecked my own game plan of sitting in the bunch for a while and instead opted to get involved in a little move with Joe Skipper and a few others. This of course came to nothing and we were reeled in with ease. The decisive break came on the next lap or lap after(my head is still a bit fuzzy) when the bunch seemed to slow up a bit on one of the back straights. One rider tapped off the front, then another then another....It was the kind of moment when everybody is waiting for somebody else to make a move and pull it back. Unfortunately the hesitation was too great, and this small group of  six riders of whom four were from the BMC team had gained a good gap. At this point half a dozen or so riders in the bunch made an effort to try to bring these guy's back. The rest of the ever dwindling peloton was either falling off the back or sitting in. Not happy with this situation three riders made a move and jumped off the front for the chase. With this strong trio gone the initial commitment for the chase wained, but found momentum again in the closing laps. On the final lap I was part of a group of eight who became nine after we caught Ben Price who had dropped off the pace. So at this point the situation on the Road was that Ben Thompson and Duncan Urquhart had been caught after 120km by chasing six, then you had two individuals trying to get across and my group of nine a couple of minutes down. Coming in to the final climb a Lotto Interbike led followed by myself, at this moment the sprint started and seven of my break came by past and stayed that way until the line giving me a final position of 18. I am still pressing replay in my head on this one as I felt ok with no cramps etc. I think I was just glad to be finishing with the heat etc. Incidentally the race stats were: 97miles in 3h41mins. My group was a couple of minutes down.

Congratulations must go to Joe Skipper and his team for dominating proceedings, riding as a team should. It's nice to see at regional level. Although frustrating if you are trying to compete against them. I had a chat with Duncan Urquhart afterwards and he told me that the Bmc's would not work with him and constantly attacked him on the last lap as would be expected. So hat's off for him coming third! It's all right for some though! The Army have given him a year off to qualify for the Commonwealths for Scotland - He has to gain three top three placing’s in a Premier Calendar event to qualify.

 

Its 8^th For Alan at the NCRA on storming form – brief race report

 

 

What a tough race 3 times up the devils staircase was enough. With only Nigel and I representing St.Ives it was game on. Nigel set off in group 3 (I think) and me in the group behind. With some nutter from Evans cycles constantly pushing the pace in my group we caught Nigel just in time for the second push up the staircase. Riders were shed out all over the place when the bloody Evans guy attacked again. Well we all dug in and our group caught all of those in front of us but managed to stay away from the scratch groups. I managed a final push in the sprint to get 8^th and Nigel finished in a group a little further back. A tough day in the saddle but again in the sunshine!!