EASTER TRIP TO WINCHESTER FOR 4 MEMBERS OF WIGHTLINK-WIGHT MOUNTAIN CYCLING TEAM

Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cycle Racing Team members Ewan Cook, Nick Earley, Alfie Haydon and Nadia Lele travelled to Winchester over the weekend (Easter Sunday) to compete in the first round of the Southern XC MTB Races at Matterley Basin. First up in the Open Sport class was Nick Earley. Due to a less-than-ideal gridding position putting him in 40th place in a field of 69 riders, Nick had his work cut out from the off. The start was very fast with Nick making inroads to the group hitting the first bit of single track in around 15th position. Over the remaining 5 laps Nick made his way through the pack with some well-timed digs in tricky single-track sections distancing other riders. With the freshly cut out course, by the end of the race ruts and lines had formed making for a fast finish with Nick just climbing into the top 5. Nick said:

“A good start to the season, looking forward to the upcoming block of races and improving race by race, big shoutout to team sponsors Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries and Wight Mountain for helping out with getting us to the start line”

Nadia Lele, who was up next in the Female Sport class got off to a brilliant start in her race and held on to take her first win of the season, Nadia said:

“I had a strong start and at some point in the race, I turned back but there was no one behind me so I just kept pushing on. I was so focused on my riding that I wasn’t even aware that I was in the lead. The course was mostly slippery and technical single track and every lap was starting with the painful long fire road drag, but I dug in and am delighted with the win”

Ewan Cook and Alfie Haydon were last up in the fast paced Open Junior race, Ewan started off strong, but 2 riders managed to pull away from the rest of the field in the early stages of the race leaving him to battle it out for the final podium position with a couple of riders from Ignite. Ewan was in the running until the last lap when the team mates put in a huge attack which he couldn’t follow and had to settle for 5th place on the day.

Ewan said:

“It was a really fast technical course and I was feeling strong up until the middle of the last lap but I just didn’t have the lungs to go with the final attack. I’m looking forward to the next round and will hopefully pick up a podium then”

Alfie had a solid race and came home in 7th place. Alfie said:

“This was definitely not my kind of course but I enjoyed the racing and it’s all good experience. I’ll be aiming for a better result in the next round.

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