Saturday’s beautiful sunshine made for near perfect conditions in the third running of the Surrey Legs of Steel cyclosportive at Box Hill. The event was a sell-out once again, and around 460 riders set out to tackle this challenging circuit of the Surrey Hills. Most riders opted for the longer 81k route which features eight major climbs with a total of 1600m of climbing, including the 21% climb at Winterfold. However, the shorter route, at 46k and 1020m of climbing, was no easy option, with five major climbs including the 18% climb at White Down.

The event is held to commemorate the life of Dave Aitchison and raise money for the Dave Aitchison SportsAid Fund set up in Dave's name to assist talented young triathletes in the Triathlon London and South East regions. There are currently eight athletes receiving funding, and it was great to see four of them involved at the event. Early indications show that this year's ride has raised around £12,000 for the fund, with an additional £3,000 in donations!

Two of the youngest funded athletes, 13-year old Lewis Hawkins and 14-year old Armanni Antoine-Chagar, took on the shorter route with accompanying riders Kevin Draper (funded athlete Sky Draper’s Dad) and Parys Edwards (from the Ful-On Tri LEJOG relay team). Lewis was riding his new Giant bike, bought with the funding he received. Despite suffering a blow-out along the route, Lewis finished in an impressive time of 2:10:39. Armanni was not far behind finishing in a time of 2:19:08, and feeling inspired to work on her cycling after the encouragement she received from Parys. Both finished to rapturous applause from the crowd at the top of Box Hill, which included both their mothers who were marshalling at the event.

Tackling the longer route was Matt Myers, who had just turned 17 the day before. He would have been joined by 18-year old Lucy Chittenden, but unfortunately Lucy had a bad cold, so helped with handing out the medals at the finish line instead. Matt achieved the gold standard in the long route finishing in a time of 2:59:35. He said it was the toughest, hilliest bike ride he had ever done, but he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would be back again next year.

The four funded athletes who were unable to take part, all of whom sent messages of support, were 13-year old Sky Draper, who was competing in the South of England Road Relays; 17-year old Emily McLoughlin, who was competing for GB at the Youth Olympic Games qualifier in Spain; 17-year old Lara Nyman, who was on a swim coaching course; and 19-year old Bradley Hales who was moving up to Loughborough to start University.

The fastest finisher on the long course was Ewan Jewels (Prologue Bikes), who came home in a new course record time of 2:32:18 and Natalie Creswick (Ful-On Tri Club), the current South East Road Race champion and a fellow LEJOG relay team member, was the fastest female in a record time of 2:46:44. In the short course, Jeremy Bishop (Bigfoot Bike Club) was first home, also in a record time of 1:41:29 and Benedetta Dionori was the fastest female in a time of 2:01:54. Another noteworthy finisher was polar explorer Ben Saunders (www.bensaunders.com) who finished in the gold standard time of 2:54:44, and uses cycling as part of his training.

Taking a rest from riding the course last year, Dave’s Dad Tony, sister Jane and brother-in-law Ed joined other members of Dave’s family, including his Mum Jenny, and Ful-On Tri Club members to assist with marshalling the event. The event was also well supported by its sponsors: Prologue Bikes, Infinit Nutrition and Incrediprint.

Riders finishing the course were full of praise for the event. Despite it being “relentlessly hilly”, the sense of achievement in completing it outweighed all the pain suffered in the attempt! With temperatures hitting 21ºC at the finish, many stuck around at the café and soaked up the late season sunshine whilst enjoying a cake and a coffee.

For more information on Ful-On Tri club, results and photos from the event go to: www.fulontri.com