After a chilly start, with a head wind down the first ramp, the weather gods turned friendly and the temperature rose for the latter rounds of this 4th Edition of the Denbies Duels elimination hillclimb event.
A quality field of close to 70 riders was the largest yet and included seven Females, some very strong Junior riders (ten Juniors in all), and good contingents from Redhill CC /Redhill Raiders and our co-organisers Dorking CC.
Plenty of spectators in the start area and some very vocal support at the finish provided the backdrop for another morning of exciting racing in the wonderful surroundings of the Denbies Vineyard.
After some extremely close racing in the knock-out rounds, Women’s honours went to Joscelin Lowden (Lewes Wanderers) who narrowly beat Sophie Household (SSLL Race Team) to be followed shortly after by brother Jamie Lowden (ASL360) beating Ben Irving (Dorking CC) in the Overall Final.
The First Round results, from which the top 16 and the top 4 women go forward to the Knock-out Rounds, the Fastest Vet prize went to Dylan Bexley (Dorking CC). The Fastest Junior prize went to Tobias Dalhaus (London Dynamo) who also took third place overall.
Fastest Team (of 3 riders) was PaceLine RT (Dom Clegg, Ayrton Pope and Jon Freeman) closely followed by our own Redhill CC team (Nicholas Mugridge, Matt Peel and Matthew Ferguson).
Finally, the prize for the Most Improved rider (compared to previous attempts) went to Sevi Webb (Redhill CC)
Special mention has to go to Stephen Golliker (Redhill CC) and Nick Sharples (Dorking CC), whose sons had entered in the Junior Category, and decided to “have a go”. Well done Guys! Come back next year when the Most Improved prize will be up for grabs again.
Postscripts:
Thanks to all our generous sponsors - C&N Cycles, Destination Bike, Finch Cycles, Maison du Velo, The Cycle Room, Schmidt Kitchens, Corniche Builders, Johnston Sweepers, Epsom Canine Rescue and our hosts Denbies Vineyard.
Thanks too to all our marshals and helpers from Dorking and Redhill CCs. Great Job!
For the full results please go to the Denbies Duels Website > http://denbiesduels.webplus.net/index.html
For more pictures of the event (courtesy of Frank Grainger) please go to