Gypsies Green
This weekend NTR hosted Round 9 of the CXNE league, the final round of the season. Cyclocross is an entirely off road race, covering anything from mud and sand to hurdles and running. The idea being that each person does as many laps of the course as they can during their race.
Although it was a little breezy, the weather was certainly better than the previous weekend which saw storm Darragh cancel several cyclocross races across Europe.
Saturday saw a team of helpers volunteer with course setup, this had us put out hundreds of poles, miles of tape and a huge amount of safety netting. Luckily this year the course was all inside Gypsies Green and so there was no course to be put outside the fence on Sunday morning.
The course was dry, usual for Gypsies Green, we had a sand section and a few short sharp climbs which were challenging.
As usual the first race of the day was the Open V50’s / 60’s / 70’s plus the Women. The men set off fast in the open category, it wasn’t long before I was lapped, with Darren Robson averaging just under 5 minute laps.
Caroline and Sarah both made podium in the Women’s V40 category and Darren (although in his muckle kit) took the win in the V50s category.
Next we had the kids racing, great to watch the various races covering the Under 16’s, seeing them try out their technical ability on the course with many of the older kids managing some of the technical sections easier than me, to the very young ones getting a bit of a helping hand into the stiff gusts of wind.
Final race of the day was the Open Senior / V40 category, with the sun low in the sky, the light was excellent to watch the men battle it out, the winner of the race averaging laps of around four and a half minutes. The men managed to fit in 10 laps of the course during their 50 minute race.
The work for NTR didn’t stop once the races were over however, the whole course needed to be packed away. All hands on deck meant that we got the course taken down in next to no time at all.
Volunteers
Without our fantastic volunteers we couldn’t put on these events so a big thanks to:
- Keith Fordy
- Ian Gallon
- Thomas Banks
- Nail Hindmarsh
- Ian Wright
- Gary Doig
- Gary Stephenson
- Suzanna McArdle
- Sarah Minto
- Gemma Fletcher
- Dan Richardson
- Dan Robinson
- Jenny Nel
- Ellie Cooper
- Scott Nolan
- David Tickner
- Alex Tang
- Caroline Cunningham
- Rory Primrose
- Paula Salter
- Simon Farrington
- David Howe
- Katherine Davies
- Jane Appleton
- Ged Foster
And a thank you to the volunteers from South Shields Velo who also helped with the course setup and takedown; Paul Steadman, Jamie & Jackie Brady, Marty McTavy and Jim.
Racers
- Caroline Cunningham
- Gemma Fletcher
- Sarah Minto
- Darren Robson
- Dan Robinson
- Dan Richardson
- Michael Lee
- Rory Primrose
- Alex Tang