Ixworth town centre races are a reminder of how exciting and accessible cycle racing was in the UK through the 1980′s and 1990′s and how it is still run in mainland Europe today. In its heyday, each local club would arrange for a town or village centre to be closed for the afternoon and hundreds of regional and national racers would descend to spend their pocket money in the local cafe’s, shops and resturants and entertain a large crowd of spectators with some thrilling and close racing. The circuits were usually less than a mile with tight corners, short sprints and exciting team tactics. The races lasted between 20 and 40 minutes – enough to challenge the riders but not enough to bore the crowd! Alas, the town centre races at Great Yarmouth, Gorleston, Norwich, Bungay, Diss etc etc are now infeasible due to relaxed Sunday trading laws, the cost that is now involved in shutting a road and the red tape that our health and safety policies now stipulate. At Ixworth however, the Mildenhall based West Suffolk Wheelers club do make it all happen each year and GYCC members were not going to miss this one.
John Swindells was first to taste the rapid and agressive racing and finished at the end of a bunch but with a big smile – i am sure it was a smile…
The u10′s and u12′s saw young Tristan Swindells ride to the end and Rowan Baker finish a strong 11th from an impressive U10 field. Seth Houlgate maintained his great record in these events and also finished 11th which is even more impressive as he has only just moved up to the U12′s age group.
In the U14′s event we had a bigger collection of riders. As the race started the rain fell and the tight and twisty circuit became an even bigger test of skill, fitness and nerve as the rain greased the bends. The young riders, unlike their parents, seemed unfazed. Now riding for national racing team Inverse Racing, Zak Coleman hung onto the lead group despite a heavy cold. Staying with Zak was Patrick Manning who worked strongly in the group and his lack of circuit racing experience did not slow him down – although maybe his racing colleagues allowed him to do too much of the work and he blew with a couple of laps remaining. It was a brilliant ride from Patrick and he is learning every race – well done. Behind this bunch saw Matthew Baker and Ben Turner battling in a group of boys and girls who looked more like 18 than the age 12 of our two lads. They worked hard, displayed grit and stamina and dropped several riders from the group with Matthew just beating Ben to the line. Next up were Dan Swindells and Harrison Charlwood who took a real battering in the early stages. Dan dropped back to try and help Harrison but it was in vain. Harrison bravely carried on and fought to the finish and Dan finished between Ben’s group and Harrison.
Despite the rain, a mix up with the formal results and the chilly wind all the team enjoyed their day’s racing. The regular coaching sessions at the Great Yarmouth Stadium are improving the team performance with every race (see www.greatyarmouthcyclingclub.co.uk). Well done GYCC and well done Ixworth.
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