Many thanks to Dave Francios for his great photos – http://www.davefranciosy.co.uk/

A crack group of MTB specialists braved the cold and spooky singletrack for 12 hours of hard paced racing in Mayday Meadow last Saturday night. The annual Dusk till Dawn race began at 8pm and finished just after 8am on Sunday morning.

London Phoenix had entered five categories, Men’s 4; Women’s 4; Mixed 3; Women’s Pair; and two soloists. With expectations high the race started at 8pm with a short lap around the meadow, slightly extending the first lap to thin out the 500+ starters on the line. The LP men’s 4 were trying their best to throw vital time away by missing their 2nd handover by a minute, (Dan, getting an over extended early power nap!) but quickly made up for it and settled in to 5th place tucked up behind some the sponsored teams for most of the night.

The Women’s 4 were flying too holding on to 2nd place until a queue in a bomb-hole (the exits were very sandy and mostly un-ride-able) Sara took the decision to hit a tree rather than people and was evacuated by the race medics (suspect the people may have been the softer option!). Nick and Douglas missing the “mixed” part of their team (what happened to Isabel?) soldiered on through the night as a pair, doing their best despite battery failure (or is that rider error thinking they last twice as long as usual, Nick??!). We didn’t see much of the Lizzie and her partner during the night, a 12 hour pair is a hard race. They were either racing, eating or sleeping (no time for socialising!). Jason and Werner were the real hero’s, 12 hours solo at night. We saw Jason on and off through the night as he stopped off for the odd cup of tea to ease his aching muscles. Werner on the other hand was locked in a ding dong battle for a podium place for most of the evening and rode almost continuously for the 12 hours.

The racing was fast and fighting the minimal sleep, freezing temperatures (well not quite but it was bloody cold), lack of on site coffee (instant coffee is not the same and should be banned) and very dry, sandy conditions, London Phoenix rose, just like the sun (eventually), to finish in the top 10 in all categories entered. The top plaudits of the night must go to the women’s pair with a 2nd place podium spot, Werner for his awesome solo effort and the Men’s 4 for what can only be described as being the “best of the rest”, only four teams, all semi-pro, sponsored and shiny in their skin suits (!) finished above them. Well done to the girls for battling on without Sara who was still seeing starts hours after kissing the tree. All in all, a great race, great company and support, and good results.

LP women pair: 2nd
Solo: Jason Wright 93rd and Werner Van Der Merwe 4th
LP men’s 4: 5th
LP women’s 4: 6th
LP mixed 3: 8th

Many thanks to Dave Francios for his great photos – http://www.davefranciosy.co.uk/

London Phoenix is a club packed with talented, committed and dedicated mtb’ers who race and ride all over the world, but modesty often prevents them from celebrating their many successes. However, this weekend they completely dominated the showcase Dusk ’til Dawn event, held in Thetford Forest, Norfolk.

Starting at 8:00 pm Saturday evening and ending at 8:00 am Sunday morning, this endurance event covers more than 11 miles of fire roads and flowing singletrack, and concentration and determination are needed the whole way through. Incredibly LP managed to get top 10 positions in all of the five categories they entered – a truly amazing feat…

To find out more you can read Dan’s report here – and well done guys and girls!

The Catford and Bec Hill climbs are incredibly popular end of season events that are…steeped in history. In fact the Catford Climb is considered to be one of the oldest bike races in the world, having run continuously since 1887. Like most of the competitors attracted to this uniquely British form of racing, the rules are very simple. Start from a stand-still at the bottom of a short but very steep hill, and then spend the next few minutes in a world of pain. And if you’re a member of London Phoenix then make the short trip over to the second classic hill climbing event and do it all over again. See, simple.

So to discover how LP’s crack climbing squad got on read David Murrell’s report here.

Well it all started at Sevenoaks Rail station when some old timer asked me if we (Nathan, Rob and myself) were going to the Catford Hill climb, and when I said yes, he asked if I was racing “on THAT thing”, referring to my beloved carbon race bike Hilda. The cheek of it. Apparently I had too many gears, and just one would do. I told him I couldn’t make up my mind so brought all the gears I could muster.

The Catford Hill Climb: What can I say? It was hard. Nathan was first Phoenix up, avoiding someone with a broom to come through in just over 2min 30secs. Then Chris and Rob both made 2min 25; before Alex flew up in 2min 14. I regretted not starting earlier as the expressions on the finishers suggested this was the closest thing to childbirth that any of us would endure. Then it was my turn. After 1 minute I wanted to pack it in; then I had to change lane the man with a broom made a reappearance -I even had to shout “rider coming through”. But then I turned the corner and got swallowed up by the crowd.

Fortunately I’m not epileptic, because like everyone else, I was greeted by a startling number of flashguns, and then a wall of people 2/3 people deep that parted like a shark swimming through a shoal of fish. At that point a new surge took over, and feeling like a pro I made it across the line in 2min 27sec, before feeling sick and then dizzy. Some clown made it look easy by going over in 1min 58secs, but Alex was not far off the top 10; with the times generally not being helped by a lot of rearwheel slipping. However, at this point I think we all doubted whether we’d make it to Bec Hill for the afternoon entertainment.

But we did. Walking down the course was a bad idea as it seemed to go on for ever, and it was clear that the last 200m got very steep. However we were there and had to give it a go. Nathan was again first up, and with the commentator describing him as a “Big unit”, or maybe a Big eunuch” he crossed the line in 2min 25. Chris was next, and I think he got up in a little over 2min 30, followed soon after by Rob who, despite a chest infection, pulled out an impressive 2min 16sec. I didn’t see Alex but he did another good ride to make 2min 14, and at that point only one person was under 2mins. I went off, got into a steady rhythm, reaching the final steep section surprisingly early and with another (albeit slightly smaller) crowd screaming support, I stopped the clock at 2min 18secs. Somehow, and I still can’t believe this, the winner floated up in 1min 46secs -a full 12secs in front of second place.

We are awaiting the results of the Phoenix Annual Gurning Championships; but this will be judged once the photos come through. However, Alex once again claimed the Club Championships and will no doubt be allowed a rainbow motif on his jersey for the next 12 months. All round a very respectable performance from the Phoenix riders, and there was talk of doing it all again next year, although that may have been due to the altitude sickness.

If you can stand 2/3minutes of agony then the Catford Hill Climb is a great event to take part in. You’ll feel like a pro, and then feel like a swine ‘flu patient, all within a few hundred metres.