Result: ELV Winter Series #1

Jake Crossley and Connor Backhouse winners at week 1 of the East London Velo Winter series at Redbridge on Saturday, January 18

Result: ELV Winter Series #1

A flooded track and a layer of ice? No problem, as the ELV broom army got stuck in to clearing the track and soon made track rideable after much unseen effort. Racing was on, as was a bumper field for this time of year across both races. With cash and Kalas goodies as series prizes there was plenty to turn up for, but if you want to get fit without troubling the front, Hog Hill gives you all you need (and a bit more).

There were many debut racers in the field which was brilliant to see. Better still was that riders dropping off got into groups and plugged away for most of the race, better than Zwift, hell yes! The sun was out and the tunes pumping out from the ELV sound system.

It didn’t take long for a small group to forge clear, with Connor Blackhouse (Kingston Wheelers), Benjamin Flanagan, Aurelien Decagny (Dirty Wknd) and Nicholas Richards to the fore. They hung out for a couple of laps but never got beyond 10 seconds and they were quickly pulled back by an attentive if depleted bunch. There were a couple of spirited attempts at freedom in the remaining laps but nobody was strong enough to hold out and a bunch sprint seemed nailed on. Connor Blackhouse easily took the bunch kick with Michael Stimson (Maillot Noir) next over the line.

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2/3/4 Cat race
Again, a big field of nearly 40 wanted some early season Hog time. Amongst the numbers were a good representation of junior riders which meant the racing was aggressive from the gun. There were many attacks in the first few laps in what looked like a tough and honest race. Jake Crossley (Tofauti Everyone Active) was solo and looking impressive for a number of laps until he was joined by 4 other riders who formed a strong group that worked well together. The bunch was looking less cohesive and slowly began to leak time – a couple of stronger riders saw the danger and tried to jump, but the gap was too big by that point and the lead riders too strong. Whilst this was going on Max Bolton, Jake’s teammate, had a go at the solo-of-the-race prize and again held out for a number of laps at the pointy end.

With a good gap the leading 5 began to attack each other but they were altogether coming into the bottom corner. Jake Crossley took the win from Jamie Pullen (Maison du Velo – Stork Bikes UK) with Max Bolton (Tofauti Everyone Active) rounding off the podium.

Images and video here:

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1/2/3
1 Jake Crossley Tofauti Everyone Active
2 Jamie Pullen Maison Du Velo-Storck Bikes UK
3 Max Bolton Tofauti Everyone Active
4 Oisin Murphy Hillingdon Slipstreamers
5 David Dalrymple The 5th Floor Cycle Club
6 Colin Peck Athlon CC
7 Matt Steel Shaftesbury CC
8 Alex Jones Sigma Sports Official
9 Alex Dale Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club
10 Adam Pyper Rapha Cycling Club
11 Aaron Sandhu
12 Matthew Lord Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club
13 Jake Towler Strada 2020
14 Charlie Johnson Fast Test Racing Team
15 Aidan Kerrigan Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club
16 Oliver Parsons Tri UK
17 Colin Ward Essex Roads CC
18 Matthew Davey Verulam – reallymoving.com
19 Jonathan McCann
20 Gaurav Meher Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club
21 Soeren Hansen Lea Valley CC
22 Adam Colvin Army Cycling Union
23 Lee Lavery Lea Valley CC
24 Sam Clarfield Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club
25 Rizwan Hameed Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club
26 Damian Dodd Barking & Dagenham CC

4th Cat
1 Connor Backhouse Kingston Wheelers CC
2 Michael Stimson Maillot Noir CC
3 Benjamin Flanagan
4 Jonathan Underwood Penge Cycle Club
5 Andy Wakeling
6 Aurelien Decagny Dirty Wknd
7 Phillip Lovett
8 Jasien Haridy Penge Cycle Club
9 Grant Burt Penge Cycle Club
10 Chris Lynch
11 Nicholas Richards
12 Owen Williams
13 Tim Leonard Penge Cycle Club
14 David Randall Maillot Noir CC
15 William Taylor
16 Joseph Delves Lea Valley CC
17 Stuart Davidson
18 Paul Connor LFGSS
19 Marco Datola Dulwich Paragon CC
20 Daniel Fowler Woolwich CC
21 Kevin Johne Dulwich Paragon CC
22 Pritesh Patel Ashford Road Cycling Club
23 Roger Crouch Dulwich Paragon CC
24 Jason Osunkoya Dulwich Paragon CC
25 Arunas Petkus Dirty Wknd
26 Bradley Hurr Hadleigh MTB Club
27 Robin Shute