The 25th anniversary edition of the Guildford Town Centre Races, promoted by Charlotteville Cycling Club and Sigma Sport, held on the infamous cobbles of Guildford High Street took place under dark and wet skies.  But there were smiles all around in the crowd as the youngest riders took home the spoils and caused a few upsets.  16 year old Chris Legg (AWCycles.co.uk) took part in the Youths race at last years event but made the big jump up to the main event and then took the spoils by making a last gasp jump away from the group to take the win.  Then if things weren’t going well enough for Legg he was thrilled to receive his prize money from former Tour de France winner Stephen Roche.

Charlotteville Cycling Club and Sigma Sport presents
Guildford Town Centre Races
supported by Knight Frank Estate Agents, Sheerwater Glass Centre,
Surrey Advertiser, Cycling Weekly

According to race commentator Colin Docker (who has been behind the microphone for almost all of them), the rain has only come down for just three of the previous 25 years but the rains came down for the whole of the day and did not let up into the evening.  Consequently, the race organisers unfortunately had to take the decision to cancel the Sheerwater Glass Youth Criterium on safety grounds.  The older (but not much for some) riders were left to utilise their best bike handling skills to get round the tight circuit which included some tight corners which in the wet were taken at much slower speeds than normal.

The main event started off steadily with the Plowman Craven RT duo of Tony Gibb and James Millard controlling proceedings from the front of the pack.  However, a handful of laps into the race and Matt Stephens (Sigma Sport RT) broke away from the main field and steadily built up a healthy lead which grew over the next five laps until it reached 15 seconds and stayed there until the last ten laps when the bunch finally decided to haul him back in.  Meanwhile riders further back in the group used all their skills to keep upright around the course although many lost their battle with gravity and fell to the ground particularly on the tough transition on to the cobbles of the High Street which claimed many a victim, most of whom remounted and continued, albeit with a few bruises.

At half distance Legg attacked the bunch to chase down Stephens, catching him to take the prime. He then got dropped soon after but still stayed clear of the pack. Behind, the bunch were starting to get organised in an attempt to pull back the leaders. Getting a second wind Legg then chased down Stephens again catching him on the bell. On the last lap he attacked and got the lead all the way to finish to become almost certainly the youngest rider to win the Guildford Town Centre Race crown with Matt Stephens holding on for second followed by James Millard in third.

The first race of the night saw less controlled racing action with no large groups of riders from the same team and right from the flag Sam Sturgeon (Team Terminator) took off from the front and never looked back.  Within just a couple of laps he had built up a healthy lead over the chasing field where a small group of chasers were trying to organise themselves into reducing the gap but it was to no avail.  Sturgeon was too strong and perhaps his skills from the track were used to greatest effect resulting in lap times that were well ahead of his nearest rivals and it was no surprise when he lapped the whole field and from that point on it was just a case of staying upright (although even he hit the cobbles at one stage but was able to remount and without too many problems).  Behind him the race was, from very early on, for the minor places with Nick Onslow (Pedalon.co.uk) leading the remaining riders home from Simon Bird (Dulwich Paragon).

Three riders from the host club started the support race but both Neil Thomson and Matt Wakeford had to retire part way through after crashes and injuries forced their exit. It was left to Jon Lewis to fly the flag for Charlotteville CC with a strong and powerful ride forming part of the group who spent almost all the race trying in vain to chase down Sturgeon. Finishing in fourth place was a great performance in such harsh conditions.

Speaking after the event, race organizer Matt Legge from the promoting club Charlotteville CC said “I’d really like to thank all those spectators who still turned up in their numbers despite the heavy rain it was great to see them all out their enjoying the action.  It was also a great privilege for us to have Stephen Roche down to present the prizes, I hope that he had a great time and enjoyed the racing.  Let’s hope for some better weather next year”.

Sigma Sport Criterium - National B (E/1/2)
1 Chris Legg (AWCycles.co.uk)
2 Matt Stephens (Sigma Sport/Specialized/Sportful CT)
3 James Millard (Plowman Craven RT)
4 Tom Smith (AWCycles.co.uk)
5 Dan Duguid (Sigma Sport/Specialized/Sportful CT)
6 Jody Crawforth (Arctic Premier RT)
7 Douglas Dewey (Team Tor 2000)
8 Warrick Spence (CycleFit/Serotta)
9 Darren Barclay (Arctic Premier RT)
10 Simon Ernest (AWCycles.co.uk)
11 Lee Smith (www.agiskoviner.com)
12 Ian Paine (London Dynamo/Cyclefit)
13 Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport/Specialized/Sportful CT)
14 Billy Whenman (Sports Beans-Wilier)
15 Sam Allen (i-Team)

Knight Frank Criterium – Regional B (3/Jun)
1 Sam Sturgeon (Team Terminator)
2 Nick Onslow (Pedalon.co.uk)
3 Simon Bird (Dulwich Paragon)
4 Jon Lewis (Charlotteville CC)
5 Philip Moore (British Cycling Private Member)
6 Chris Hunt (VC Godalming & Haslemere)
7 Daniel Ahearn (DHCycleSport)
8 Felix English (Team Corridori)
9 Alan Parkinson (South Western Road Club)
10 Martin Weinberger (CC Basingstoke)
11 Simon Notley (Reading CC)
12 Dean Frost (VC Meudon)
13 Russell Clarke (Fit-For.com)
Women
1 Jo Munden (VC Meudon)
2 Lucy Chittenden (Farnham Tri Club)

Photographs from the event can be found at the following websites:
• James Carlsson - http://www.jamescarlsson.co.uk/tcr/
• Dave Carlsson - http://www.davidcarlsson.co.uk
• Andrew Tobin - http://photos.tobinators.com/cycling