The 17th February marked the end of the 2023/2024 Cyclocross season with the award ceremony for the London South East CX and Sussex Leagues. The LSE League has 10 races including 4 which make up the Sussex League. Each race awards points to each rider for position and a riders top 6 race scores earns them their final place in the League. We saw 2 of our PPYCC girls on the podium this year. Bibi 2nd in both leagues in the U8 girls and Idha 2nd in the Sussex League in Youth A girls. Idha finished an impressive 2nd or 3rd in all but 1 of her races and finished 4th in London SE League.
This CX season saw 17 of the PPYCC team take part, some following the whole series near and far and others just joining for some or even just one of the more local races. Luca got to all 10 races and was awarded a special medal for his support. He was a very strong front rider in the Youth A Open category but suffered a lot of unlucky set backs, as frequently happens in CX racing. One race saw him run an entire lap with his bike on his shoulder in order to just cross the finish line. Luca finished 4th in London SE League & 5th in Sussex.
The first 4 races this year were unusually warm dry weather without much mud in sight, odd for cross racing! The rain did eventually arrive and so did the mud and the rest of the season saw some proper CX conditions and a lot of fun. It was great to see so many of our riders racing across most of the categories from the U8’s all the way to Juniors, both boys and girls. Thor was our youngest competitor at 6 years old, who enjoyed his very first CX season in the U8 boys, he finished 8th in both leagues. He said “I loved the slip sliding in the mud and the wiggles”.
Luke rode very competitively in the U10 boys and enjoyed a 3rd podium position at Canada Heights. He completed 9 of the 10 races only missing one in support of the PPYCC hill climb. He finished 6th in London SE league & 8th in Sussex. Vincent & Edie both enjoyed a step up this year racing in U12’s for the first time. Both performed admirably and finished strong. Edie chuffed at Herne Hill winning her highest placing of 4th, helping her to finish 7th in London SE league and 9th in Sussex. Vincent fought hard coming 12th in London SE and 10th in the Sussex League. Rohan came and joined the U12’s for the surprise home CX race which was hosted last minute at Preston Park as the last race in the series.
Both the Youth categories are tough and fiercely competitive. PPYCC had 4 riders in the Youth B Open with Felix finishing 2nd at Canada Heights and coming 7th in London SE & Sussex Leagues. Harley competed in 4 races still placing 22nd overall, Cooper and Charlie B competing in 1 race each this season. Megan raced in the Youth B Girls and finished 7th place in both Leagues. Hadley & Milo joined Luca in the Youth A Open category. Hadley sadly missed a lot of races this year through injury and illness but his love of CX and amazing technical skills earned him 2nd at Canada Heights and a 3rd at Hog Hill, helping still gain him enough points to get 10th in London SE League & 15th in Sussex. Milo raced just 4 races but still finished 17th in London SE League and got an excellent 4th place at Herne Hill.
Ben joined the Juniors this season and he too missed a few races to illness and suffered various technical issues. He placed 2nd in all but 1 of his races and finished 4th overall in the London SE League. Alfie also raced for PPYCC juniors and finished 6th in SE London League.
Congratulations to all our cyclocross racing heroes, we are proud of you all. Already looking forward to the 2024/2025 season!
