Chris Batch, Ian Leeding, Dom Clegg and Rob Pace represented Redhill CC at the Surrey League Cat 3 Alfold/Kirdford road race on Sunday morning which was promoted by Festival RC.
This course is fairly rolling with no particularly sharp hills and a lap of around 15km in length.
Other clubs were well represented, in particularly London Dynamo, Crawley Wheelers and Brighton Mitre so these were the teams to watch out for in any moves
Early on Dom was pretty active and Chris was well positioned to get in any breaks but nothing was sticking. Ian and Rob also made some efforts to get clear of the bunch but to no avail.
However, with the last lap approaching, Rob and Chris put in a bit of a dig and managed to get clear with Robert Wright (Addiscombe CC) making up a trio.
With a big effort they were able to get some good daylight between them and the bunch - up to 43 seconds at one point. However, this started to reduce as the guys in the break tired and the bunch picked up the pace for the remainder of the final lap!
With only a 30 second gap to the bunch and just the finishing climb/drag to go the break got sight of the line. Chris was quick to unleash a sprint with Rob following in quick succession. The Addiscombe rider was slightly slower to react and was disadvantaged. Rob managed to nail it and pass Chris for his first victory with Chris coming in second!
Ian and Dom came in with the bunch in 14th and 28th places respectively.
Great result guys and shame there were no podium girls!
Full race result at http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/results/results2011/jun2011/jun26am.htm
Photos are at http://flic.kr/s/aHsjv6wZ3n courtesy of Mark Hopkins.