Cyclocross

The year began with the final round of the Eastern Cyclocross league, which was held at Milton Park in Cambridge on 26^th January. One of the most technically demanding races in the season, the course is packed full of cambered ascents and descents to challenge racers' bike handling skills. In the women’s race, Abigail Corsie was 6^th senior woman. Harry Rudd had one of his best performances in the season, taking 6^th place in senior open race, whilst Andrew Cockburn had another of his consistently strong performances taking 5^th in the V40 open race.

In the final series ranking, Andrew Cockburn took the overall V40 open series win – an upgrade from last season’s third place and the culmination of consistently strong performances all season. Abigail Corsie was 5^th in the final senior women’s series ranking, despite having an incomplete season as a result of injuries. Provisional fixtures for the 2025/26 season can be found on the Eastern Cross website.

Criterium and Road Racing

Early season crit racing kicked off with the Full Gas Spring Rumble at Lee Valley Velopark on 15^th March. Abigail Corsie represented the club in the women’s category 2/3/4 race taking 10^th place in a bunch sprint finish, whilst Matt Davis came 41^st in a large field in the open category 3/4 race.

May Day brought the annual Ixworth criterium races, a 900-metre circuit hosted on closed Ixworth village roads by West Suffolk Wheelers guaranteeing action packed racing. We had excellent Walden Velo representation across multiple races. In the 4^th category open race, Tom Watts had his best racing performance of the year so far to take a fantastic 5^th place. In the same race, Will McLaren and Ben Pratt were both comfortably in the top half of the field, taking 10^th and 11^th place respectively. Off the back of his cyclocross season, Andrew Cockburn put his well-practised bike handling skills to good use to take 10^th place in the 3^rd category open race.

The Full Gas Summer Circuit series has been ongoing on Wednesday evenings since April at Lee Valley Velopark. We have had multiple members taking part in various races. A particular highlight of this series was Ben Pratt gaining his 3^rd category license, following a series of good performances including two 5^th places and a 7^th place result in the open 4^th category races! Racing for Primo RT, club member Ben Thompson has also had consistently strong performances in this series, including two wins in the open Masters 40+ races. Tom Watts has also been a consistent finisher in the 4^th and 2/3/4 category races, gaining valuable racing experience.

Tom Watts was able to put that experience into practise at the VC Baracchi Road Race in Beccles on 25^th May. Tom came 17^th out of 38 finishers in this category 3/4 road race, but most impressively was 3^rd out of 15 cat 4 racers!

Gravel

Several club members took the journey up to Scotland to take part in the Gralloch, a UCI gravel world series race on 17^nd May. The 111km route in the Galloway Hills includes over 1700 metres of elevation, and included many professional cyclists on the start list. Harry Rudd finished in 3 hours and 44 minutes for 127^th place, which qualifies him to compete in the UCI gravel world championship. Toby Harris came in 699^th, Tom Powell 824^th, Alex Dale 869^th and Matt Davis 920^th.

Use this calendar to see all of our rides and events coming up! This is hosted on our Google account, following the links will take you to the calendar.

We've added information about local events organised by other clubs and organisers, including links to get more information and sign up.

Love a cake and cycling? Who doesn't.. Every once in a while, we organise a ride that ends up at a bike-friendly café. Check out our Events calendar for the next one.

We also have a Café Map to show you some of our favourite bike-friendly cafés to visit in the local area round Saffron Walden.