WITH Wessex Cyclo-cross League titles all decided, entries for Oxonian CC's last meeting of the season were well down on previous years.

However, the absence of several stars provided Andrew Gough (Portswood Cycles RT) with the perfect opportunity of racing to his first win at senior level, which he gladly accepted.

Setting the pace from the start, the Colden Common rider took an early lead and resisted determined challenges by Duncan Jameson (Leisure Lakes RT) and Dave Starr (Westbury Wheelers) for the first half-hour and then held off a late burst of speed by Paul Lloyd (Didcot Phoenix), who moved into second place after Jameson stopped to replace a displaced chain.

All four were well clear of everyone else by then, but the race for the veteran's award was a much closer affair and remained in doubt until the last few-hundred yards. Gough's father, Stuart, and James Mulkern (Mountain Mania) spent the entire race almost within touching distance of each other before the later edged ahead in a sprint finish for fifth place.

Freezing mist in the Bourne Valley near Andover on the morning after attending their club's annual prize presentation dinner at the Busketts Lawn Hotel in the New Forest failed to deter hard riding members of the Sotonia CC from completing their fourth reliability ride of the winter.

After collecting awards for their racing successes last year, Richard Burch, Graham Harmer and Stuart Martingale were among an advance group of nine who reached the finish of the 50-mile route at Timsbury in the Test Valley six minutes inside three hours, and they were followed two minutes later by the south district best all-rounder and road champion, Rowan Horner (VCSt Raphael Waite Contracts), and his Hedge End clubmate, Malcolm Cox, after both had stopped to repair a punctured tyre.

Road race organiser, Paul Ruta of Eastleigh, was one of three Team Velo Vet riders to complete the wintry ride and all but two of the 17 who set out from Romsey at 9am completed the hilly course by 12.15pm.