NRC takes slender 10-second lead over Velo in new Time Trial Challenge

New Time Trial Challenge Trophy brings together riders from the two local cycle clubs.

The cream of Newbury Cycling Time Trialling talent came together on 11 June for the Newbury Time Trial Challenge Trophy.  This is a new trophy, bringing together riders from the two local cycle clubs, Newbury Road Club and Newbury Velo, to encourage friendly competition and promote the sport.  Riders from other clubs were welcome too, and in total, nearly 50 riders entered.

This was the first leg and was hosted by Newbury Road Club with the race HQ at The Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park.

Time trialling is a race against the clock with riders starting individually one minute apart.  For this Trophy, riders’ actual times over the ten-mile course were adjusted for age and gender and then aggregated for each Club.  The result was incredibly close with Newbury Road Club taking a slender 10-second lead into the second leg.

Lorraine Murrell, Newbury Road Club Chair, said, “I am delighted that our Clubs collaborate on initiatives like this, the Newbury Cycle Festival, Couch to 50K and others. It’s a testament to the ties between our Clubs.”

Simon Bowden, Newbury Velo Chair commented, “I think both Clubs should be very proud that a town the size of Newbury can accommodate two large Clubs, and there being the two definitely enriches cycling locally.”

The fastest riders from the two clubs on the evening, on the adjusted times, were Tim Cartwright from Newbury Road Club (19 minutes, 28 seconds) and Andy Tucker from Newbury Velo (20 minutes, 47 seconds).

Newbury Road Club’s Tim Cartwright was the fastest on the night, both on actual and adjusted times

Tim Cartwright’s unadjusted time of 20 minutes, 25 seconds was the fastest of the evening with George Westall (Royal Air Force Cycling Association) second (20 minutes, 47 seconds) and Mark Jones (drag2zero) third (21 minutes, 8 seconds). Melanie Sneddon (TORQ) was the fastest female with a time of 23 minutes, 18 seconds, with Newbury Velo’s Katie Reynolds second (26 minutes, 16 seconds) and Manju Varkey (Didcot Phoenix CC) third (29 minutes, 50 seconds).

Andy Tucker was Newbury Velo’s fastest rider on times adjusted for age and gender

Melanie Sneddon (TORQ) was fastest female

Fastest on a road bike was Nestor Patrikios (Newbury Road Club) in 24 minutes and 1 second. Peter Fuell, also NRC rode a season's best for 10 miles.

Full results can be seen here - https://www.newburyroadclub.co.uk/tt-results

Many thanks to the NRC team of Ian Chitty, Bob Lyle, Alan Alewood, Trevor Francis, Richard Byrne, and John and Lorraine Murrell for staging the event. Also, thanks to Gareth Davies for the photographs, and to Rachael Elliott and Claire Emons for helping out with timekeeping, and, perhaps even more importantly, providing delicious cake.

Finally thank you to The Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park for allowing us to use their carpark for our race HQ.

With all to play for, the second leg of the Time Trial Challenge Trophy, which is to be hosted by Newbury Velo, will be held on 6 August.

More photos here: