Ed Taylor Road Race

16th March 2008

The Ed Taylor road race was held in the worst conditions of it history with heavy skies, a light drizzle in the air and water running across the road from the persistent rain from the early hours of the morning. This was potentially a sign of things to come for the race but given the option of not starting, 53 riders braved the start for a hard and wet 80km.

From the off the pace was quick with 16 riders being tailed off at various points around the circuit within the first lap which was covered in 12:01 for the 8km. A lead group soon developed and quickly pulled away from the main bunch to establish a smooth working triplet of riders increasing their lead each lap over the chasing pack. These were Digby Symonds (Cambridge CC) Joe Skipper (VC Revolution) and Dan Kogan (PCA/Ciclos Uno). Lapping at a consistent pace they entered into lap 4 with a 1 minute lead over a chasing group of 15 when disaster struck. Coming into the sharp S-Bends at the back end of the circuit, a car was in the wrong place at the wrong time and despite being waved over by the lead vehicle, continued along the road and met the leading Three. Digby collided with the car and is believed to have suffered a broken collar bone. Joe Skipper stopped to check Digby was OK until the mobile first aiders arrived on the scene.

This left Dan Kogan to continue ploughing a lonely furrow at the head of the race. With 50km still to go this might have seemed a futile effort with the chase group of 15 still very much in the race. At the end of lap 4 (32km) Dan held a slender 60 second lead over his chasers.

Laps 5 and 6 passed uneventfully with Kogan lapping at a consistent pace of around 13 minutes. Then, due to the ambulance being called to treat Digby, the race had to be stopped momentarily to allow the ambulance to clear the road. The times were taken and the chase group resumed their chase at 1:20 behind Kogan which was the lead he had had at the time of being stopped. Once resumed, the chase was on and at one point it looked as though Dan was going to be caught as the gap narrowed to a slender 50 seconds with 3 laps to go.

Fired on by constant time checks Dan dug deep and his pace increased. Over the next 8km lap he extended his lead by 20 seconds and as he entered into the final lap he had a 1:35 lead over a chase group which had whittled down to just Ten. The chasing Ten had by now decided they would not be able to catch Dan so the cat and mouse started to come into play. Dan continued his lonely ride to the line and completed the 80km in a time of 2:10:02. A final solo climb of the finish hill was met with well deserved applause from the appreciative spectators at the road side. Two minutes later, the Ten riders lined themselves up for the sprint for second place, it looked at halfway up the climb that it might be a blanket finish but the gradient finally took it’s toll on some very tired legs and the sprint saw Carl Dyson just pip Sean Kilroy for second with the others spread over 100 metres between 2nd and 11th places. A blessing for the judges…

ED TAYLOR RR: RESULT

1st Dan Kogan PCA/Ciclos Uno (80km in 2:10:02)
2nd Carl Dyson www. Cyclingbargains.com RT @ 2:00
3rd Sean Kilroy Glade CC
4th James Cloeman Witham Wheelers
5th Will Hedden Glade CC
6th Vince Divine Finchley RT
7th Gordon Brockie Glade CC
8th Phil Hargreaves VC Norwich
9th David Miller API-Metrow
10th Joe Skipper VC Revolution
11th Jon Thomlinson Team Economic Energy
12th Ian Samuel Crest CC
13th Robert Cox Cambridge CC
14th Ian Franklin PCA/Ciclos Uno
15th Jason Jeffers Team Economic Energy
16th Mark Thomson St Ives CC
17th James Caldwell API-Metrow @ 7:28
18th Tony Couchman Glade CC
19th Mark Porter Glade CC