It was a murky morning for Newbury Road Club’s Boxing Day fun Time Trial but still 21 brave riders, plus Margot the baby and Dave the dog, signed-in at the Elcot Park lay-by for a 10am start.
Margot nearly didn’t make it any further when the tandem on which she was planning to sleep her way to Hungerford and back had early mechanical problems. However, following repair, Andy Tucker, Rick Cornes and Margot did manage to complete the course and won the prize for “most punctures before leaving the sign-in lay-by” with two.
Andy, Rick and Margot were also highly commended in the competition for “best dressed” but the prize there went to Sean Anderson, Jan Raymond and Dave. The judges were most impressed by Dave, travelling in his own pull-along chariot, with a fetching set of antlers, although growling at the time trial secretary could have been a mistake.
Times were a little slower than we see in the regular season, somewhat impaired by Santa, reindeer and elf costumes, but the fastest solo rider prizes went to Claire Emons (29:59) and George Westall ( 24:37) and fastest tandem was Rachael Elliott and Ian Greenstreet (22:16). Full results can be found here
Many thanks to everyone who helped put on the event and to Graham Morrison and Claire Emons for providing cake, Dan McRoberts for coffee and Gareth Davies for taking photos, which are posted on the Newbury Road Club Facebook Group page here
