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Having had a few 10^th and 12^th positions in 4^th cat circuit races down at Chertsey, and a valiant (if not inexperienced attempt) at taking on the sprint at a race at Castle Combe I thought it was time to try something a little more challenging! The Ixworth Criterium.

I was lucky enough to get the last entry on the line as someone had pulled out (had I seen the course beforehand I may not have bothered either!). The circuit was approximately half a mile around Ixworth village which had 4 quite tricky 90 degree left hand bends some which had man hole covers and some which were just tight. Or both!!

I was left struggling from the start as a few of the riders were a bit slow to attack the first hill, but I managed to get back in contention by the second corner. Rob “Kawasaki” Cox (Cambridge CC) and a few others were really taking no prisoners, and even with a massive effort I still managed to slip away from the leading group (out the back of course).

As you can see from the photos my ability to breathe and my enthusiasm for the race gradually died! Having been lapped I along with all the other riders had to be pulled out from the circuit to make way for the rest of the race! A great experience but just a bit too fast and technical! Rob Cox won the 3/4^th cat race that day, (just as he had done the day before and all the other races before that! – in fact surely he should be a 2^nd Cat not a 3^rd!)

Photos of me dying can be found in the 3/4^th cat section numbers 24-27 at http://www.mphotography.smugmug.com/

Along with the days racing !

Dave C