Two wins in one week

An excellent week for the club with two wins in one week. On Monday young Conrad Dinwiddy won on his debut at Angmering and on Wednesday Toby Neave won at Portsmouth in the elite race. This was backed up with Andy Page's second 2nd place in the 3rd cat race at Portsmouth.
On Monday we had Conrad, Jospeh Marchant and George Spreckley riding at Angmering. Due to the number of riders we had to split the race into under 10s (Conrad), under 12s and under 16s (Joseph and George). Each group rode a scratch race, a one lap time trial and a handicap. Both Joseph and George improved with each race with George and Joseph finishing second and third in the last race. The highlight of the evening for me, and many of the crowd, was the under 10 handicap. Conrad went off first and managed to retain his lead all the way to the finish, although it was nail bittingly close. Many partial and impartial spectators were screaming at him to stay away. Full results here. Conrad's dad wrote "I want to say what a great time Conrad had yesterday.
I thought that the organisation was superb and the ambience was spot on.
What a great way to introduce youngsters to a fantastic sport.
We have today joined BCF as silver members and anticipate an enjoyable season of racing. Conrad has the bug and has met some new friends."
Toby reports on his win at Portsmouth "In the E12 race i went from the gun, and kept attacking like a loony. After 10 laps i was in a break of 6 riders, and we quickly lapped the field. Later on i forced another group clear, this time with just 4 of the original break present. We lapped the field again, and despite the efforts of Phil Sykes, who was very active, it ended up in a bunch sprint which i won!"
Andy Page reports "I gained another 2nd in the 3/4th cat event at Mountbatten on Wednesday night. Intention was to take it easy with the SL 3-day this coming weekend but found myself in a 6 man break after 3 to 4 laps that reduced to 5 and lapped the field. The break went through the bunch with 4 laps to go and with 2 to go one of the riders took 40m lead which I was happy to let him have hoping he would die out there or at least drain him down. Into the last lap I attacked the break and caught the leader still holding 30/40m down the back straight went past and headed for the line. I knew I had someone on my wheel but I had committed myself and had no more left in the tank and unfortunately I was jumped with 30m to go by a Waites Contracts rider from the break away."

New members

Welcome to new members Andrew Kennedy from West Wittering, Kevin Norris from Bognor Regis and George Spreckley from Bracklesham Bay.

Laurie Pither


It was a sad week for local cycling when Laurie Pither was killed whilst riding his bike. Anyone who had ever ridden a Hampshire Road Club time trial is almost certain to have met Laurie. He was a popular local cyclist who was also an important member of Hampshire RC. He was described by one person as "... possibly the nicest person I ever met." Our condolences to Laurie's many friends and family. He will be missed.