Fortunately we were blessed with another rather pleasant sunny evening for time trialling and had 29 riders turn up to race. First place on the night went to Simon Pitchford from Fenland Clarion (who knocked 21 seconds off last weeks time and was the first of three FC riders), followed by Mike Hoy in second place and Phil Oxborough in third, with only 20 seconds separating 3rd to 6th place on the night. It was good to see most who raced last week better their times but there were some big improvements worth mentioning, most notably Julia Wardley-Kershaw who improved by a whopping 2m19s, Nathan Gibson 1m54s and Matt Van Den Bos by 1m09s.
Well done to Owain, the youngest rider aged just 12 (riding with dad Clive), and some of the others including Zack, Alan and Jon riding the course for the first time. Once again some great results all round but especially form the younger riders like Sam as having to go off first without someone to chase is never easy and Holly who started down the field amongst the quickest riders on the night. Its worth highlighting that the youngsters who are aged between twelve and fifteen are averaging 17-20 mph or in the case of fifteen year old Sean Purser over 20mph and remember this is on a slow, hilly and technical course. It would be good to see more of the Sunday club run MAMIL’s take part but I think secretly a few are put off for fear of being shown up by the youngsters!
Just a few things to note, it has been decided that next weeks TT (29 April) will start at 18.45 rather than 19.00 as planned. Fortunately, everyone managed to finish safely just as the light faded, so in the interests of rider safety and not wishing to turn anyone away we will start earlier. That means registration will be from 17.45 to 18.15. Please can I ask that those who have youngsters racing, email in advance so they can be allocated earlier numbers, as well as anyone else that requires an earlier start time. For anyone wanting to race but who may struggle to make registration there will be a few spare numbers at the start, but again best to drop an email. It is advisable to have a working rear light (and yes and I know I’m one of those who didn’t) and wear lighter or bright clothing rather than black. Please do NOT warm up on the course once racing has started. There is the 10 mile old course to Stilton and back to warm up on which should be plenty, but if its not you can go round a second time.
When agreeing to assist running these events I didn’t realise just how much work is involved to get marshals to the right places, signs up, open the pavilion and register riders etc, so thank you to the following people who done a great job in making sure the event ran smoothly. Without their help the event could not take place!
Time Keeper – Mick Butler
Starter – Colin Brooker
Marshals – David Rigby, Richard Neil, Dave Sutton plus the following parents who kindly helped – Sarah Hoy, Paul Gibson, Rob Harding and Steve Purser
Others – Chris, Terry and Lee for once again showing me the ropes and explaining the course to newcomers etc.
Results
1 – Simon Pitchford 23.53
2 – Mike Hoy 24.26
3 – Phil Oxborough 25.17
4 – Matt Van Den Bos 25.24
5 – Mark Roberts 25.32
6 – Paul Schofield 25.37
7 – Alan Williams – 26.14
8 – James Warriner 26.32
9 – Andrew Knowles 26.49
10 – Daniel Rigby 28.16
11 – Berenice Curtis & Lee Desborough (2up) 28.29
13 – Chris Penney 28.39
14 – Jon Roberts 28.49
15 – Slavik Ivantsiv 29.10
16 – Wendy Gooding 29.34
17 – Sean Purser 29.53
18 – Nathan Gibson 30.08
19 – Jim Fell 30.42
20 – Kevin Cummings 30.59
21 – Holly Hoy 31.14
22 – Hasnain Dhandi 21.24
23 – Terry Cooke 31.29
24 – Simon Pidduck 31.52
25 – Sam Harding 31.54
26 – Owain Barton & Clive Barton (2up) 32.48
28 – Julia Wardley-Kershaw 33.29
29 – Zack Shipley 34.08
