Sandie Radford Memorial Road Race

After dominating the race, Rowan Horner (VC ST Raphael/Waites Contracts) duly won the Sandie Radford Memorial Road Race at Nomansland in the New Forest. Outnumbered but never outclassed, Horner covered every move, chased when he had to and attacked when he could. The Michael Radford/G A Cycles sponsored 35 mile race started in bright sunshine but dark skies always threatened, hailstones peppered the bunch and a side wind annoyed. Andy Bryson (Peter Hansford Cycles) & Ian Legg (Primera Specialized) escaped on the first lap across the forest heath, these two held a lead of 15 seconds as they headed out to the far turn at Brook.

Horner, last year’s winner Harry Bulstrode & Phil Reynolds, (Peter Hansford Cycles) Josh Day (Off Camber) and Toby Neave (Primera/Specialized) formed a select chasing group and already the rest were out of it.

Horner was the next to attack, forcing the chasing six to work hard to bring him back.

On the first climb of Pipers Waite hill up to the finish, Horner put the pressure on and Legg was the first to be distanced with the rest hanging on.

The Hansford Cycles trio of Bulstrode, Reynolds and Bryson had the numerical advantage but Horner had the legs. Comfortably answering all the questions the experienced Waites rider attacked on the final climb and only Reynolds could respond. Reynolds dug deep but Horner was just too strong. Bulstrode took third at 18 seconds with Bryson 4th.

Result,
1, R HORNER(VC ST RAPHAEL/WAITES CONTRACTS) 1:30:43
2,P REYNOLDS(PETER HANSFORD CYCLES) ST
3,H BULSTRODE(PETER HANSFORD CYCLES) 1:31:01
4,A BRYSON(PETER HANSFORD CYCLES)
5,J DAY(OFF CAMBER)
6,T NEAVE(PRIMERA/SPECIALIZED) 1:31:46
7,H LOWE(Hargroves Cycles)) 1:35:03
8,R SILMAN(BOURNEMOUTH JUBILEE)
9,B ELGIE(PETER HANSFORD CYCLES)
10,O EMMANS(ANTELOPE RT)

What they said:

Rowan Horner
“There were three of them (Hansford Cycles) and Josh (Day), the attacks started then it all bunched up at the bottom, I thought it was going to be a big sprint up the hill, but no one seemed to have it, I felt strong I had more gears to go but in the end I did not need them”
Phil Reynolds
“I sat in early on, we had Andy up the road at the start, I tried not to bring Rowan up too much, and we knew he would be strong on this course. He did some pretty hard turns to bring things back, and then we started to work. There were three of us, Rowan covered everything, in retrospect we should have attacked a bit harder, and one of us should have really committed, to make him think”
Harry Bulstrode
“Rowan was simply too strong today, we worked him over as best we could and he just chased down every move. He had some help with Josh Day, the two of them managed to contain us, it should have been a Hansford win”