Cambridge Cycling Club enjoy wheelie good season

With Cambridge University Cycling Club (CUCC) already well on its way to defending its overall BUCS title, on Saturday the light blues took on the 25-mile BUCS time trial with the added motivation of the results serving to decide the annual Varsity match.

In the Women’s event, Hayley Simmonds and Anna Railton claimed BUCS Team Gold for Cambridge with their first- and second-place finishes, Simmonds winning by three minutes and setting a women’s course record in the process. In the male race, Ed Bradbury was disappointed to miss out on a winner’s medal after his excellent recent form, but his second-place finish medal helped Cambridge claim Team Silver.

“We’ve showed utter dominance across the board with some huge performances from all members of the team”

The Varsity match was decided by the combined times of each team’s fastest three riders, and proved a rather one-sided affair, with both Men’s and Women’s squads defeating their dark blue counterparts – the former by a staggering margin of nearly 9 minutes. Earlier this year Cambridge had also won the Cycling MTB Varsity Match.

The BUCS medals and Varsity victories add to an already impressive season haul for CUCC. Two weeks ago, both Men and Women claimed gold in the BUCS 10 mile time trial, Bradbury and Simmonds racing to individual victories in their respective races. These victories followed up on a double triumph in the BUCS 50km team race, where the Men sped to a fifth consecutive title and the women to their fifth title of the last seven years. Meanwhile, the Oxford men’s first team finished the course over a minute behind the Cambridge third team.

CUCC rolled over all the opposition in a dominant season

Speaking to the Tab, CUCC President Ed Bradbury was delighted with his club’s performances: “We’ve showed utter dominance across the board with some huge performances from all members of the team. The club has consistently been very strong in recent years but this year has seen a real boost in part due to investment by our new sponsors Hunter Gibson and Chain Reaction Cycles. It is the first time the club has had serious sponsorship and this is paying dividends.”

Bradbury also told The Tab of the recent development of a fully sponsored race team, ‘Cambridge University RT – Hunter Gibson Chain Reaction Cycles’, which is set to incorporate a number of the club’s top riders as well as some alumni and external team mentors. The Club President commented on this exciting new era for the club: “We hope this will help ensure the club continues its dominance in student level cycling. This team has already seen huge success this year racing at the top level in road and time trial races across the UK and a number of its riders are now focusing on the National Championships races over the summer.”

“This team has already seen huge success this year racing at the top level in road and time trial races across the UK”