Lancaster CC had promised something a little different and certainly delivered. The developing Woodside course featured several new sections, plenty of technical challenges and two particularly unpleasant step/run-ups per lap. By the time riders reached the second one, the first probably seemed like a distant and happier memory.
At the front, Dec Oldham appeared to be suffering rather less than everyone else. He produced a dominant ride to finish 3 minutes 45 seconds ahead of Benjamin Horrobin – an impressive margin on a course where simply completing another lap felt like a reasonable achievement.
Alice Colling was equally convincing in the women’s race, dominating proceedings to take a clear victory of her own.
Woodside itself is rapidly becoming one of the North West’s most distinctive cyclocross venues. The dedicated CX and mountain-bike facility at Cowling is still being developed by Tim Ferguson and the Woodside team, with plenty of volunteer effort helping to turn it into a proper home for muddy bicycle racing. Double pits and even a dedicated bike wash are already in place – although after this course, a rider wash might have been equally useful.
And none of it happened by accident. Ben, Iain and the team had spent much of the previous day working in driving rain to get everything ready. Their reward was a terrific day of racing and, presumably, another substantial pile of washing.
Hard racing, horrible run-ups, great organisation and plenty of mud. In other words, a pretty successful day of cyclocross.
