Jake Alderman and Miriam Freemantle winners for the first Springtime Pursuits in 2012
The first of three Springtime Pursuits was held in the South West last weekend at Whimple in Devon with two races, the first for women and the final event of the day for men.
The Women’s race over 38km/23.61 was held largely in the dry and saw Miriam Freemantle of Hope Factory Racing. Miriam and her teammate Nicole Walters worked well together and it was Mim who scored the team’s first victory of the year, dropping her rivals in the sprint for the line.
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Talking about the victory, Mim says “It was an overcast chilly morning in Devon when the women’s race was started on a new course. Two groups set off two minutes apart with Nicole Walters and I in the chasing group. The course was undulating on a mixture ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads with a section of tight ‘s’ bends up and over a shallow hill with a long fast finish”.
“Our group worked well together until we caught the first group halfway round the third lap at which point it started to drizzle. Now the bunch became twitchy as the fourth and penultimate lap meant time for another prime.”
“Again, Nicole set a high tempo at the front which strung the bunch out leaving only those who could hang on together. Initially the prime split the bunch coming into the last lap but it soon came back together.”
“Through the bumpy lanes towards the finish with the pace high, the bunch swept through the ‘s’ bends onto the finishing straight where about two hundred meters from the line I sprinted to see how my legs felt. I was very pleased to have won my first race of the season for Team Hope Factory Racing”.
Men’s Race
The Men’s race was also a handicap and over a distance of 52km/33m with Junior rider Jake Alderman winning solo. After the rain had started in the Women’s race, the roads were very wet for the Men’s race and the riders looked like they had been through Paris-Roubaix after only 29 miles.
The group of Juniors, one of six groups given different starting times, got stuck in and had shelled out seven others in the first 2 miles. The remaining seven made it home with nearly two minutes to spare with Jake Alderman, the 2011 GHS SW 10 champion, jumping clear with three miles to go and the others were unable to catch him.
First of the Scratch group home was the inform Doug Dewey in 7th place.
E/1/2/3/4
1 Jake Alderman (One and All Cycles) 1:11:31
2 George Pym (Exeter Wheelers) @ 16sec
3 Sebastian Baylis (Mid-Devon CC)
4 Jack Plummer (Cadence-Cannondale)
5 Rob Smye (Exeter Wheelers)
6 Ashley Martin (Cadence-Cannondale) all @ same time
7 Doug Dewey (Terra Footwear) @ 1:56
8 James Smith (Primal Europe)
9 Rob Smale (Team Wallis CHH)
10 Steven Whitehurst (Hope Factory Racing)
Women
1 Miriam Freemantle (Hope Factory Racing) 1:02:58
2 Carla Haines (WXC World Racing)
3 Sarah Austin (YOGi Cycling)
4 Adele Martin (GB Cycles)
5 Robyn Golding (Bristol RC)
6 Wibke Rietz (1st Chard Wheelers)
7 Claire Fraser (Army CU)
8 Lyndsey Glazier (Shred Racing)
9 Selina Graham (unattached)
10 Louise Georgi (Giant CC)
