ECCA Festival Support Race 3/4 - High Easter

Sunday 3rd May

VCR club Chairman Richard Norris, and ever-present seasoned roadmen Brett Travers, Andrew Elderfield and Paul Dewberry travelled to Roxwell near Chelmsford to compete in the Eastern Counties Cycling Association Road Race for 3rd and 4th category riders on Sunday 3rd May.

Bringing with him an ever improving vein of form and still on a high from a fine 3rd place in VCR’s own road race promotion, Richard was hoping for great things. With what was perhaps a promising sign, Richard felt a little under-whelmed during his warm-up but put this behind him and got on with his race which started very quickly.

Just back from a family holiday in New Zealand, Andrew didn’t know what to expect from himself having been off the bike for a while. Despite some race-rustiness, Andrew got into some moves and covered others well. Brett too got into the thick of the action on a regular basis.

At one stage the bunch was stretched when a group of 3 went up the road. A further 3 then clipped off the front and then Richard decided to try and get across which he finally did after dispatching 3 assistants along the way. The group formed as 8 but the bunch had already sensed the danger and chased this group down. Once the main group came back together again the race settled down and due to the winds it was clear that a large group would be needed to survive the headwind section, however one rider from Cambridge CC attacked on the last lap and held the bunch at bay.

About 6 miles from the finish Richard decided to move up and found it pretty tough holding position. Lots of riders were pushing to the front but his main aim was to be right at the front for the left turn off the course and up to the finish. Richard was third as the bunch turned left and Brett was also there. The Cambridge CC rider was about 150m away as they started the climb and Richard‘s tactic was to the start the sprint early and as they through the right / left turn Richard went with 600m to go. About 5 seconds later the sound of a crash was heard from behind but Richard was committed and kept his head down. He passed the Cambridge CC rider with about 300 metres to go and with 200 metres to go he buried myself. The rider behind kicked and so did Richard, just holding him off to the line. Richard had won.

Sadly, on a day which was littered with crashes, Brett fell foul to the crash at the very end of the race and suffered some severe gravel rash down one entire side of his body along with a requirement to visit the bike shop for a new helmet.

Additionally, as he crossed the line in ecstasy Richard took his hands off the bars, lost control and crashed onto the grass on the left hand side, lucky not to hit the telegraph pole. As it later turned out, Richard had broken his collarbone but he had won his first road race for the best part of 18 years.