The first Easter Festival under new Guernsey Velo Club road co-ordinator Nathaniel Moseley-Jones features the standard elements, otherwise consisting of Good Friday’s Chouet Criterium, Sunday’s L’Eree Circuit race, and Monday’s Cobo 10-mile time-trial.
But adding to the variety of hill climbs staged in recent years, the organisers will be testing riders on the Saturday with a timed ascent up the eastern side of Petit Bot and onto La Rue de la Falaise.
‘We are building on our standard stage race feel – crit, hill climb, circuit race and time-trial as well,’ Moseley-Jones said.
‘Similar format, but we’ve gone for a different hill climb course this year, because it’s a different route through Petit Bot.’
Although it lacks the harshest gradients of last year’s short-but-sharp ‘OMG Hill Climb’ based near Rocquaine, it will not be easy going out south.
‘It’s a different course from last year – slightly longer, but more of a challenge, and it should offer some good spectator points,’ Moseley-Jones added.
‘It’s just mixing it up a tiny bit.’
Orkney 2025 Island Games competitors and Guernsey age group record-breakers Phil Touzeau and Seth Davey feature prominently alongside established stars like James Roe and Seth Davey on the entry list, which sat at 42 as of Monday morning.
Triathlete Thierry Le Cheminant provides an intriguing addition, while up-and-coming rider Remi Le Compte will be looking to make a mark as a junior.
The racing will lack established female cyclists, which is a ‘bit of a shame’ according to Moseley-Jones, though the introduction of a new novice women’s series has borne fruit.
The road co-ordinator has been working with GVC women’s captain Frankie Middleton to provide an option for newcomers to ‘come along and give it a go.’
‘The focus is more on the personal and social side rather than the competitive nature,’ he said.
‘We have got quite a few in that, half a dozen or so.’
Using his experiences as a newcomer to competitive cycling, being inspired by Guernsey 2023 and then competing at Orkney 2025, Moseley-Jones has been working on simplifying the club calendar and making their activities more accessible.
He is aiming to boost numbers through making a certain sacrifice: slashing the number of events held per year.
‘The idea is rather than having 10 people turning up to road races, to have 25 to 30 turning up, but there’s only six of them in a year.’
He added: ‘We are focusing this year on trying to showcase the GVC and the races we do as something that’s for anybody in the community, and not some closed-off club.
‘That’s where the Easter Festival is so good. It’s a good way to come and try out all the different kinds of racing and it’s a really good social part of the calendar.’
Moseley-Jones is encouraging anyone to visit their website on https://www.gvc.gg/ and contact them if interested in racing.
