Designed to celebrate the achievements of Alex Paton one of the most famous past members of organising club VC Deal.
Following on just a week after the initial round of the 2020 cyclocross season round 2 was held at
Astor School in Dover on Sunday 11th October 2020.
Due to the strict COVID restrictions enforced by British Cycling on how regional cycling events such as this are to be run. Cyclocross racing has a quite different feel to it this season. It is then a testament to the hard work of promotor Rob Kingsland and the army of dedicated volunteers that work hard to put on the events. Notably the East Kent Cyclocrosss Series is one of just a handful taking place in the entire country for the 2020 season.
A full days racing was planned with 15 classes in 6 races and over 200 riders from all over the South East. A gruelling 2km course which consisted of a lot of tricky off camber sections which definitely tested even the most experienced riders. Fortunately, overnight rain did not make the course heavy as suspected, instead the course was fast which lead to some great racing which for the most part took place under blue skies.
In the Elite Mens race a strong field of over 40 riders lined up for the start. But it was Kishan Bakrania (Panagua CC) and Matt Holmes (Arctic Aircon CC) pulled away from the rest of the field and spent the remainder of the race trading first and second place. It was on the final lap that Bakrania managed to break the virtual elastic and started to pull away eventually crossing the line in first place to repeat his round 1 victory. Quite a feat in only his second year racing at the elite level.
Holmes had more than enough gap to hold on for second ahead of Samuel Painter (TBW23 Stuart Hall Cycling) who kept away to claim the final podium place.
The Elite Womans race was not as close seeing Emily Ashwood (AWOL) lead from the every start and seemingly not be troubled until she took the flag separated by a minute to second placed Caroline Reuter (Dulwich Paragon CC) and a further minute saw Bryony Fishpool (Southborough & District Wheelers) come home in third place.
Quite possibly ride of the day went to Ben Flatau (Charlotteville CC) in the junior mens race. He was gridded on the very back row at the start of the Junior Mens race and then proceeded to make his way through the field to comfortably win.
The next East Kent Cyclocross round is due to take place on 15th November at Northbourne Park
School in Deal. However, due to current COVID 19 event restrictions spectators are not allowed.
Results:
Elite Men: 1 Kishan Bakrania (Panagua CC), 2 Matt Holmes (Arctic Aircon CC), 3 Samuel Painter (TBW23 Stuart Hall Cycling)
Elite Women: 1 Emily Ashwood (AWOL), 2 Caroline Reuter (Dulwich Paragon CC), 3 Bryony Fishpool (Southborough & District Wheelers)
V40 Women: 1 Caroline Reuter (Dulwich Paragon CC), 2 Jo Malpass (Sprockets UK), 3 Sally Smith (Medway Velo)
V50 Women: 1 Nicky Hughes (Specialized Racing), 2 Tracy Wilkinson-Begg (TWB On-Time RT), 3Elizabeth Orr (Kent Velo Girls)
Junior Men: 1 Ben Flatau (Charlotteville CC), 2 Dylan Humber-Kelly (VC DEAL), 3 Dominic Bell (Sutton Cycling Club)
V40 Men: 1 Stephen Gibson (4T+ Cyclopark), 2 Mark Whittaker (GS Invicta), 3 Luke Anderson (Wigmore CC)
V50 Men: 1 Dylan Bexley (Dulwich Paragon CC), 2 Jon Lyons (GS Invicta), 3 Stuart Evans (Crawley Wheelers)
U16 Boys: 1 Yani Djelli (Una Forza Racing), 2 Piers Higginson (VC Londres), 3 Luke Gibson (4T+Cyclopark)
U16 Girls: 1 Hope Inglis (JRC-Shutt-Ridley Race Team), 2 Esme Wiley (VC Londres)
U14 Boys: 1 Peter Carpenter (Sutton Cycling Club), 2 Milo Willis (VC Londres), 3 Mak Larkin (Rotor Race Team)
U14 Girls: 1 Tulsi Bakrania (WXC World Racing), 2 Edith Davies (4T+ Cyclopark), 3 Lola Arnold (WXC World Racing)
U12 Boys: 1 Joe Carpenter (Sutton CC), 2 Alexander Campbell (Limited Edition Cycling), 3 Ivo Thwaites (Kent Velo Kids)
U12 Girls: 1 Orla Wllis (Southborough & District Wheelers)
U10 Boys: 1 Woody Clayton (Rotor Race Team), 2 Rowan Murphy (Wigmore CC), 3 Oliver Brophy (Trainsharp Club)
U10 Girls: 1 Eva Gibson (4T+ Cyclopark), 2 Betsy Hacker( Kent Velo Kids) , 3 Verity Nicholas
Photo by Matt Bristow/mattbristow.net