Colmore hits a century!
By TMX Archives on 28th Feb 11
A NEW starting venue and a completely different course welcomes a full house of 120 entrants to the 100th Colmore Cup Trial, second round of the ACU S3 Parts National Clubman Trials Series on Sunday. Beginning from the Norgren Social Club in the middle of Shipston-on-Stour, from where the trial started for many post war events, the Stratford-on-Avon Club has plotted an all new 30 mile route.
A long eight-mile run to the first group at Dovedale won't help in keeping the riders warm but the big climbs and cambers amongst the ten subs there will soon change the temperature. It is then to the top of Fish Hill at Hancocks and Saintbury Quarry before the punch card change at Weston Wood and an all new second half of the trial.
Two miles away on land at Tunnel, not used for 40 years, slippery roots might catch the unwary whilst at Kiftsgate the loose climbs are again of an unknown severity. Finally, if it's a damp day the massive grassy climbs at Meon Hill will be devoid of grip both in climbing the banks and returning down to the bottom.
Sam Haslam and three times previous Colmore winner Dan Thorpe are amongst the earlier starters.
Midlanders Ross Danby and Mark Hicken are in the middle of the pack whilst another three-times winner, Sam Connor, is at the tail end. As usual, there are easier route variations for the Clubmen in a Championship now known as the S3 Parts Clubman Series. The start time is 9am and the starting venue post code is CV36 4DQ.
The Colmore represents the second round of the S3 Parts Series, with the opener being the Wallace Cup last Sunday and reported on in this issue. Ben Morphett won the trial outright but it was Ricky Wiggins who took maximum S3 points from Dan Thorpe, Guy Kendrew and Ben Wibberly who all kept their scores in single figures. Will the winner of the Colmore manage to keep such a low score?
Find out in next week's TMX!