Essex Roads CC 2024 – Road Race Report

Sunday11 August 2024. Our annual road race took place on the Wendons Ambo course, the riders completed 6 laps, which included Littlebury hill, renowned for making any race on this course highly attritional.

With a full field pre entered plus a number of reserves the prospect for a competitive action packed race was definitely on the cards. The riders were greeted to very warm conditions, so warm in fact that the British Cycling Commissaires suggested we reduce the number of laps by one on health and safety grounds.

The race started fast once the flag dropped midway up the climb from Littlebury. On completion of the first lap the race was already forming into smaller groups, the lead bunch of around 20 riders came through the finish line at a decent pace followed shortly by smaller groups of riders trying to stay in contact. The first lap had seen no real concerted attacks with each rider maybe content to save themselves for the hill and let the course do the damage.

However as the race came round to complete the second lap, Sam Massey in his 2nd ever road race wasn’t content to follow that strategy and instead decided to push on before the hill. So much so that he had a good gap on the main bunch of around a minute. Presumably no one else wanting to take the risk this early in the race. Certainly a bold tactic from Sam given the warm temps.

When the following bunch came through they didn’t appear to be panicked by the lone rider off the front, however it was clear that the race had now blown apart with more than half the filed split into smaller groups of riders.

Sam Massey. Photo Louise Wren.

It would only take a further lap for some riders to be more than 5 minutes down on the main bunch, with the commissaires insisting that riders be pulled should they exceed the 5 min rule.

The end of lap 3 was the first Prime lap (Primo RT Prime), Massey was still off the front maintaining a good gap, albeit it was clear this was starting to shrink slightly, still he claimed the first of the Primes.
At this point approximately 12 riders had been pulled from the race for exceeded the 5 min rule, in addition some riders had clearly called it a day and headed back to the HQ.

With 2 laps to go we had heard that some riders had crashed just at the crest of the hill, this resulted in more riders being lost from the race, glad to report no major injuries barring some grazes and cuts. Lots of riders then had to chase back on to stay with the lead group.

With the end of the race fast approaching and the second of the primes still up for grabs riders previously happy to sit in were now becoming more active. With 1 lap to go it was clear that those who remained in the bunch started working more as a unit to close down Massey. Despite the chase Sam clinched the second prime but his gap was now all but 15 seconds as they crossed the finish line for the final bell lap.

Speaking to Sam post-race, he was now feeling the effects of the heat and his power was starting to fade, he could hear the bell behind him as the remnants of the group came through and decided quite sensibly to recover as much as possible before being caught.

George Bowman from Schils – Doltcini Racing Team sensed this was his opportunity to jump across to Massey and quickly bridged over. Rather than surge Bowman cleverly used what was left of Massey’s reserves to work together for the remainder of the lap to create some distance on the rest of the chase group.
As they approached the foot of the hill for the final time Bowman clearly now the fresher of the two seized the opportunity to attack up the climb, taking the win by a clear margin, with Massey coming in to take an impressive 2nd place. 3rd place went to Mark Diamond from Lee Valley who attacked the remnants of the chase group early on the hill to get a decent gap, the rest coming in 1’s and 2’s as they tried to empty their tanks.

Overall it was a great race to watch on a tough course, probably one of the toughest in the region.
Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to the prize winners.

Results

Primo Prime – Sam Massey
2nd Prime – Sam Massey

Top 10

Unfortunately no one was able to take the KOM prize, although some of the times up the hill were strong, with some riders only a handful of seconds away.

I’d like to say thanks to all those who made this event possible, the accredited marshals, BC commissaires, Helen and David Spraggins, Kirstie Imber, Rob Staines and Jess Upton doing the all-important sign on. Nigel Hoggart in lead car 2, the rest of the Primo RT team who I dragged in having already raced in the mornings ECCA race.

Lou Wren for some great shots of both races – see photos here >> [open new tab]
And finally Len Gordon, who I have to say, without his help definitely wouldn’t have run as smooth as it did.

Colin Ward – Race organiser