Reports courtesy of Jess Wilkinson

Saturday 10th November – Otterspool Park – 8th round of NorthWest league

 It was quite a short but technical course with some slippy sections and short sharp hills. I was battleing with 2 boys again and after a small mistake on the second to last lap I was down in 7th place. The boy in front dropped his chain soon after and so it was really a race to the line from us two! There was a small set of hurdles before a final corner and I decided to sprint the last part with my bike on my shoulder after the hurdles, but after he’d jumped onto his bike again he just pipped to the line adn I finished in 7th overall and first girl.

Sunday 11th November – Milton Keynes – Inter Area CycloCross championships

I was representing North West in a team of 4. Each region put forward several boys teams and mainly one girls team, so there were a lot of riders there! We had won the year before and wanted to defend out title, but Wales and a few other teams looked particularly strong! The course was very hilly again as its set around a “bowl” and there were lots of steep off-camber sections which got greasier throughout! The boy and girls raced together and there were about 100 riders on the line! The first lap was very difficult with all the boys trying to beat the girls, but we all settles into the race quite quickly! For the majority of the race I was in 3rd girl position with 2nd not far ahead and after a few laps the long hills and several running sections played to my advanatage I caught her on the second to last lap. Our team then had me in 2nd, Martha Gill in 4th and Henrietta Colbourne in the top 10 as well as our 4th ride in a comfortable position a bit further down. I also beat the welsh team and our other riders also beat most of them too, so we defended our title as the Inter Area Champions!

Jess and team after winning Inter Area Championships