Cyclo Cross is certainly enjoying a boom at the current time with Eastern Region events attracting up to 170 entries across the categories. Round six of the League took place recently at the Davy Down Country Park at North Stifford in Essex. The excellent course combined some tricky woodland with a slight hill (that got steeper each lap) and some open grassland, punctuated by two sets of steps necessitating dismounts, not to mention a slippery wooden bridge, that caught out several riders.

The Veterans and Ladies race over 40 minutes had 65 starters, with our riders, Barry Denny and Soren Sjolin finishing 41^st and 57^th respectively. Alan Trolove dominated the Under 16 race again, and won by 45 seconds from Sean Dunlea, who had ridden in Belgium the previous day. Jonathan Sjolin continued his relentless improvement, finishing 4^th from a field of 20. His sister Alexandra made her second appearance in the series and did well to finish 20^th from 27 in the Under 12s.

Round Two of the National Series took place at Chantry Park Ipswich on Sunday October 31, with the country’s top riders, and a few from Belgium, contesting the various classes. Alan Trolove was supported by a vocal band from West Suffolk, and rode well to finish 16^th, although he was disappointed not to improve on his 14^th place at the first round in Wales.

Next week the seventh round of the Eastern Region League takes place at Redgrave on Saturday Nov 6.

On Saturday November 20^th British Cycling are holding a Cyclo Cross Commissaires Training Course. This will take place at Priory School (tbc) and enables those attending to achieve Assistant Commissaire status in one day of training. Please contact Barry Denny if you are interested.