IG Markets Square Mile Challenge

Clever Pun

wjcrombie wrote:

I beat Clever Pun in my heat (1:49:16) although did not beat Ben Swift. After my heat the announcer said I had the fastest time of the day and it went on the leader board. I hung around for the next 2 races and neither of them managed to beat my time and there were no more races.
I beleive Mathew Thoebold was the one with the fastest time to beat the pro, (although he was slower than me).

That should mean I get the FP2 (or whatever model it is) and Matthew gets the Dogma.

I have not heard from them yet and sent them an e-mail yesterday which they have not replied to yet....

good ride, I wasn't in a fit state to congratulate you after the race. it seems we caught Swift and Thomas competing with each other and they stepped it up compared to previous rider times... luck of the draw I guess

bigmat

Damn, 1.5 seconds off an £8k bike... probably best not to think of it like that!

brucebanner

They should run the competition in the summer and any weekday beside friday.

matthew.t

wjcrombie wrote:

I beat Clever Pun in my heat (1:49:16) although did not beat Ben Swift. After my heat the announcer said I had the fastest time of the day and it went on the leader board. I hung around for the next 2 races and neither of them managed to beat my time and there were no more races.
I beleive Mathew Thoebold was the one with the fastest time to beat the pro, (although he was slower than me).

That should mean I get the FP2 (or whatever model it is) and Matthew gets the Dogma.

I have not heard from them yet and sent them an e-mail yesterday which they have not replied to yet....

Hi,

That is also how I interpreted the rules. I haven't heard anything from them yet either! Will keep you posted if I do.

Well done!

SamWise72

Aha! I take it this is the Mr Theobold who embarrassed a pro whilst wearing cuff links? Times may be what they may be, but you get the prize for doing it in style! I rubbed that in a little as Russ came out, but told him that losing to smartly dressed blokes was part and parcel of commuting

wjcrombie

Just got the confirmation that they will be giving me the FP1. Now need to decide if I want to keep it as a training bike or sell it to part finance an upgrade to the race bike.....If only I had beaten Ben Swift and then I would have had a new race bike and no decision to make.

lost_in_thought

wjcrombie wrote:

Just got the confirmation that they will be giving me the FP1. Now need to decide if I want to keep it as a training bike or sell it to part finance an upgrade to the race bike.....If only I had beaten Ben Swift and then I would have had a new race bike and no decision to make.

*gasp

That's amazing! Well done you!

SamWise72

Nice that both winners are members here!

Pufftmw

Congrats to you both but you do realise it would have been my bum on the seat of the race bike if that chap hadn't had his unfortunate mishap

bigmat

If only... still, at least I got my picture in Cycling Weekly (so I'm told - I haven't seen it yet!)

matthew.t

I also got a confirmation phone call from IG Markets. It is very exciting! I would have never dreamed I'd own a bike like this in my life, so I will do my best to put it to good use.

I'll also be buying all of the sky boys a pint next time I see them! Such a shame that the event has been overshadowed by the bad news, but thanks to the promoters and organisers for a fun morning.

mroli

Congrats to all winners - I have heard that the guy is still in ICU, but not in high dependency any more and has been able to communicate with his family.

kelsen

First of all, congratulations to the guys who won the bikes, particularly matthew.t who will be living the wet dream of every boy and girl on this forum!

However, for the purpose of discussion only* and taking nothing away from matthew.t, is it right that THE bike should be awarded to the rider who did not set the fastest non-pro time of the day? Yes, I know the rules states that it's anyone who beats a pro, but lets be honest, Russell Downing also got his ass kicked by other riders who were not in his heat!

(*and maybe a touch of sour grapes for not getting the chance to race because of the cancellation)

EDIT: And best wishes on a speedy recovery to the unfortunate chap

bigmat

kelsen wrote:

First of all, congratulations to the guys who won the bikes, particularly matthew.t who will be living the wet dream of every boy and girl on this forum!

However, for the purpose of discussion only* and taking nothing away from matthew.t, is it right that THE bike should be awarded to the rider who did not set the fastest non-pro time of the day? Yes, I know the rules states that it's anyone who beats a pro, but lets be honest, Russell Downing also got his ass kicked by other riders who were not in his heat!

(*and maybe a touch of sour grapes for not getting the chance to race because of the cancellation)

EDIT: And best wishes on a speedy recovery to the unfortunate chap

Rules are rule, they were set out at the start of the day and anyway, there were only 3 races all day where a pro-scalp was taken so a pretty decent achievement. I've been feeling like a wreck the last month or two, my only realistic target was to win my heat. Had I been against Swift / Thomas I probably would have gone faster chasing them down to take 2nd / 3rd than I did to beat Downing.

My (minor) grumble is that they advertised the event as saying that anyone beating a Sky rider would win a bike and that was reported all over the cycling press. The small print did limit it to the fastest of the day, but I think they've been a bit cheeky there.

SamWise72

Really chuffed that both bikes went to members here. It appears that they might run a similar event next year, and I'm setting myself a target to come back and post a time under 1:50. Winning heats and beating pros would be nice, but imponderable, but taking 10 seconds off my time would be great, and is something I can actually aim at.


Congrats, winnahs!