The national road racing season is now in full swing, with no less than four national road races taking place this weekend, with the prestigious Wally Gimber Trophy one of the headline events.
What is it?
The Wally Gimber Trophy, promoted by Dulwich Paragon, is a prestigious ‘National B‘ level road race that takes place this year on a new course in Surrey. Celebrating its 64th edition, the event stands as one of the UK’s most enduring road races.
This trophy has its origins deeply rooted in the history of the Dulwich Paragon, thanks to the benevolence of Wally Gimber. A devoted member of the club during the 1940s, Gimber made significant strides in cycling, notably at the local Herne Hill track. His achievements include becoming the London centre track, massed start, and roller champion in 1948-9, in addition to establishing a national tandem paced half-mile record of 48.55 seconds. Although Gimber moved to the US in the 1960s, he maintained a strong connection with the club, returning to the UK in 1985 to present the trophy at the club’s 50th anniversary dinner. He continued to keep in touch with the club up until his passing in 1993.
Over the years, the race has emerged as a vital early-season competition, attracting some of the UK’s top cycling talent. It boasts an impressive roll of honor, including cycling luminaries such as Sir Bradley Wiggins. Tony Gibb, Simon Cope, and Rob Hurd are among those who have left their mark on the race, with multiple victories apiece, highlighting the event’s significance in the British cycling calendar.
In 2021, after a year’s break due to Covid, the race resumed in August at a new course in Tenterden, where Chris McNamara (Nuun – Sigma Sports – London RT) won the trophy after over 20 years of trying. In 2022, Alex Richardson was unstoppable, winning the race for the second time (his first win was in 2019). Unfortunately, the 2023 edition was curtailed due to serious injury to a rider following a collision with a car.
The route
The race moves to a new, more challenging circuit in 2024 in Bletchingly. The course is particularly punchy proposition, where the short steep legbreakers up to the finish line are followed by a false flat along the A25, before a merciful descent and a long flat run south to the bottom of the course.
With a roll out from the race HQ in Bletchingly, the circuit is 16.4km long and contains 226m of elevation according to VeloViewer. The race takes in eight and a half laps of the circuit – the finish line is between the junctions with Miller’s Lane and Gaywood Lane in Outwood – with a total distance of 140km, meaning the race should involve just shy of 2000m of climbing in total.
The final climb up Scott’s Hill to the finish line is the punchiest, with double digit gradients in places, so it will be up to the rouleurs to distance the puncheurs if they want to stand a chance of winning.
Timings
| 11.05 | Race start |
| 14.45 | Race finish (expected timetable) |
Weather
At the time of writing, the forecast is for dry and mild conditions, although possible rain in the morning could lead to slippery conditions in places.
Contenders
Saint Piran headlines the list of riders to watch, which will be no surprise to even casual observers of the domestic scene. They boast two-time Wally Gimber winner Alex Richardson, Portsdown Classic winner Sam Culverwell, 2023 breakthrough rider Rowan Baker, and rising star Dylan Hicks.
A new rule now prevents the Saint Piran UCI team competing with its USKIS Saint Piran development team in National Road Series races, but this is still permitted in National B road races. As such, Saint Piran boasts two more promising talents on the startlist in the form of USKIS Saint Piran riders Dylan Westley and Huw Buck Jones, two riders who are more than capable of pulling off a big result.
Who can challenge the men in black? Well, an obvious pick is last weekend’s Jock Wadley Memorial winner Jacob Vaughan, who is clearly in great early season shape. Ollie Hucks (TAAP Kalas) and Damien Clayton (Le Col RT) were also form riders at the Jock Wadley, finishing third and fourth respectively, so should also be considered contenders here.
Ollie Peckover (trainSharp Elite) started the 2023 road season in imperious form, winning the Capernwray Road Race, the Peaks 2 Day and the RCR FatCreations Road Race all within the space of three weeks. At home on punchy courses, he’ll be one to watch if he finds himself in similar form this year.
Look out too for Rás stage winner Conor McGoldrick (Richardsons Trek DAS), Dom Jackson (Foran CT), who was fourth at Portsdown, and Cycling Sheffield’s David Hird, who impressed in France last weekend with third at the GP de St. Quentin.
Provisional startlist
Entries are open until 15 March, but the latest provisional startlist (as at 9.00 on 14 March) lists 80 starters.
| Name | Club / Team |
| John Appleby | API-Angliasport |
| Joseph Purbrook | Army Cycling Union |
| Tyler Lemmon | ASSOS UK Racing Team |
| David Hird | Cycling Sheffield |
| Morris Bacon | DAP Cycling Club |
| Euan Davies | Dulwich Paragon CC |
| David Worthington | Dulwich Paragon CC |
| Ben Moody | Elitecycling |
| Morgan West | Folkestone Velo Club |
| Tobias Dahlhaus | Foran CT |
| Dom Jackson | Foran CT |
| George Mitchell | Foran CT |
| Robin Mould | Foran CT |
| Thomas Springbett | Foran CT |
| Nicholas Tyrie | Foran CT |
| William Taylor | GFTL |
| Alfie Salmon | Hart Performance Coaching |
| Benjamin Neal | HIVE Racing |
| James Boyman | Hoops Velo |
| Zak Machin | HUUB BCC Race Team |
| Damien Clayton | Le Col Race Team |
| Matthew Clayton | Le Col Race Team |
| Henry Foster | Le Col Race Team |
| Monte Guerrini | Le Col Race Team |
| Steven Mayers | Le Col Race Team |
| Oliver Richardson | Le Col Race Team |
| Ramon Almeida | Lea Valley CC |
| Aaron Freeman | London Dynamo |
| Sam Llewellyn-Jones | London Dynamo |
| Carl Victor Pettersson | London Dynamo |
| Álvaro Triviño Martínez | London Dynamo |
| Luke Barfoot | Primera-TeamJobs |
| Thomas Doig | Primera-TeamJobs |
| Max Fleming | Primera-TeamJobs |
| Sebastien Tyrie | Primera-TeamJobs |
| Charlie Crawt | Primo RT |
| Oliver Curd | Primo RT |
| Robert Staines | Primo RT |
| Thomas Womack | Primo RT |
| Finn Dunton | Project 51 |
| Isaac Wright | Project 51 |
| Oleksandr Vasylevskyi | Reading CC |
| Cai Davies | Richardsons Trek DAS |
| Rhys Howells | Richardsons Trek DAS |
| Olivier Mangham | Richardsons Trek DAS |
| Conor McGoldrick | Richardsons Trek DAS |
| Cameron Still | Ride Revolution Coaching |
| Matthew Wilson | Ride Revolution Coaching |
| Craig Robinson | Royal Air Force CA |
| Rowan Baker | Saint Piran |
| Sam Culverwell | Saint Piran |
| Dylan Hicks | Saint Piran |
| Alexandar Richardson | Saint Piran |
| Chris McNamara | Sigma Sports Race Team |
| Matthew Houlberg | Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling |
| Thomas Heal | Stolen Goat Race Team |
| Callum Slade | Stolen Goat Race Team |
| Oliver Hucks | TAAP Kalas |
| Sam Llewelyn | Team PB Performance |
| Benjamin Tuchner | TEKKERZ CC |
| Jacob Vaughan | Private member |
| Tom Williams | THRIVA-SRCT |
| Luke Goodwill | trainSharp Development Team |
| Daniel Lloyd | trainSharp Development Team |
| Jacob Storey | trainSharp Development Team |
| Conor Williams | trainSharp Development Team |
| Oliver Peckover | trainSharp Orro Elite |
| Danylo Riwnyj | trainSharp Orro Elite |
| Sam Shepherd | trainSharp Orro Elite |
| Timothy Torrie | trainSharp Orro Elite |
| Casper Brazier | TRASH MILE |
| Huw Buck Jones | USKIS Saint Piran |
| Dylan Westley | USKIS Saint Piran |
| Len Delicaet | VC Londres |
| Adam Howell | VC Meudon |
| Finlay Hawker | Zappi Junior Race Team |
| Alex Jones | |
| Daniel Tilley | |
| Michael Weavers | |
| Jesse Yates |
