Post Race Interview: Ian Field (Hargroves-Ridley-Montezuma’s)

Post race chat with Ian Field (Hargroves-Ridley-Montezuma’s) about his dominating ride at the Shrewsbury National Trophy

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Post Race Interview: Ian Field (Hargroves-Ridley-Montezuma’s)

On Sunday at the National Trophy Shrewsbury race, there was a class field for the Men’s Elite event and so it was a surprise to see Ian Field (Hargroves-Ridley-Montezuma’s) dominate the race so much after Ben Turner dropped back after his first lap crash.

The race had a lot of ‘names’ in there who have certainly given Ian Field a hard time in the past, or beaten him even, but the British champion is in great form and on a course with so much running, it was right up his street.

He looked to be cruising, no race faces showing the effort needed to ride away from some serious talented riders but he admitted afterwards it was far from easy. “Just riding round was hard! Chasing Ben early on, he was going really well but I think he was riding a little bit over the limit and lost it in the woods (crashed, broke a shoe) so that left me alone for the whole race which was nice because for a lot of the track, you didn’t have a lot of control over where the bike was going so it was nice to be on my own and not have anyone to worry about.”

“I was able to ride at my own pace, get on and off where I want, and try and control the race from there. I had no hiccups out there; I had a top pit crew and supporters and the bikes were perfect. I was doing half lap changes so I think it was harder for the guys in the pits than me – all I had to do was ride round for an hour.”

So far in the series, Ian was the winner at Derby and then second behind Tom Pidcock at Abervgavenny and when asked was Shrewsbury the slipperiest it has been so far in the series, he replied “Yes, this is the first mud of the year which is strange but it’s good to have some ‘cross conditions and not be doing crits all the time. I enjoyed it”

The circuit at Shrewsbury certainly required a good pair of running legs with so many sections unrideable, so much so that a section of the course from the morning was removed for the rest of the day. “There was a lot of running” Ian explained. “By the end, you were doing all of this section (near the start finish after the tarmac), through the first pit all the way to the woods so there was a lot of running but then I should be able to run!”


Ian is noted for not being the first away and I asked was it more measured effort off the start line? “It was a measured effort at the start because if you go into the red, you make mistakes and it was really easy to kill your speed on one of these sections (muddy) and lose 15 seconds so it was great to be able to ride at my own pace.”

The next round of the National Trophy is in Kent, where Ian lives and his win of the season was in the Kent league as well. “It was on a different course to the trophy and I have never ridden at Gravesend (cyclopark). It is only 40 minutes from home though so it will be nice not to have to sit in a camper for eight hours on a weekend! “

Finally, asked to sum up the season so far, Ian replied “the season has been really good and I’ve been enjoying it which is the main thing. I have had some good performances even though I’ve not had the results I wanted internationally but it seems to have clicked lately with 15th at Koppenberg and I felt good today. I am riding well …”

And still hungry for the victories I asked as we started to head for the podium appropriately, “I’m hungry all the time as I do love winning! There is nothing better …!”

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