October’s segment marked the end of this year’s competition and the relatively low number of attempts to set a time up the undulating Andover road, saw the year out with a whimper.
In the women’s competition, the times remained super-close, with Isla Hoult picking up first place with a quick time of 05:08. Close behind was Annie Dixey with a time of 05:13 and Franie Ng closed off the podium with a time of 05:29.
The final ranking for this year’s women’s GC competition are as follows:
Topping the table and our 2023 women’s champion, with an impressive 136 points, is Annie Dixey. Super-close behind after 10 months of hard-fought riding, Franie Ng takes second place with 131 points. Isla Hoult rounds off this year’s women’s podium with a late season surge seeing her accumulate 108 points in total.
This year has seen an exciting women’s competition, with very close times and 9 different women club members testing themselves in competition, over the course of the year. Hopefully next year’s competition can build on this success and renewed interest.
In the men’s competition, yet again, for the 10th successive month (which is as far as we know a new club record), Oscar Hoult took the top spot, with a fast time of 04:23. George Bentall put in a great effort to secure second place with a time of 04:47 and Jim Cascarini closed off the men’s podium for October with a time of 05:47.
The final ranking for this year’s men’s GC competition are as follows:
Sitting atop the table with a quite unbelievable ‘maximum’ points tally of 165, this year’s men’s champion is Oscar Hoult. Taking second place behind Oscar, with an impressively consistent performance across the course of the year, on 113 points, is Jim Cascarini. Some way behind the top two, third place goes to Matt Gilmour on 42 points.
Similar to the women’s competition, this year saw 48 different riders try their luck in the men’s competition and we look forward to a similar level of interest for 2024.
Congratulations to Oscar and Isla who win the free hot drink and slice of cake from South Downs Social café, for winning the October segment.
And a very big congratulations to both Oscar and Annie, who are our men’s and women’s GC competition winners for 2023. They both win the gift prize from South Down’s Social, who have very kindly continued to support and sponsor our club’s annual segment of the month competition throughout the course of 2023.
Next year’s competition will see some changes in an attempt to open up and encourage the opportunities to participate and compete to a wider audience within the club. Look out for more details soon.
Results and position for October segment challenge and Final GC ranking for 2023
