May Bank Holiday Monday saw the second in the club’s series of holiday weekend Time Trials. Once again on the 25 mile Thatcham – Theale course, the conditions were only slightly improved on the Easter weekend with temperatures still cool and the wind rising throughout the event foretelling of the storm to come later in the day. The field of 20 riders on the Start Sheet saw North Hants RC rider Lee Williams comfortably set a new course record of 53m 17s and well ahead of the chasing bunch. Tristan Davenne was the top rider for the home club finishing in 56m 39s, while first woman home was Teresa Robbins, (Reading CC) in a new lady’s record of 61m 48s. Hopefully the next in the series on Whitsun weekend will be warmer.
Wednesday evening (5th May) saw the latest round in the club’s non-aero TT competition. The persistent heavy rain of the previous week was replaced by April showers – in May! – and it was anyone’s guess as to weather (sic) the event would be hit by one. As riders arrived for the event, there were tales of roads like rivers and hailstorms leaving the ground white, fortunately the event missed them all, save for the lightest of showers. However, the lack of rain made little difference to the temperature with the mercury failing to rise above 6 degrees as riders lined up for the start.
Thirty riders were on the start sheet and it was great to see Newbury RC’s Tim Cartwright back on the road for his first Time Trial of the year. It was no surprise that Tim had a comfortable win, finishing with 21m 11s, a clear minute ahead of next rider Richard Cornes (Newbury Velo) in 22m 19s.
Local regular Melanie Sneddon (Torq Performance) continues to display great form finishing in 4th place and as first woman with 23m 19s.
In the club’s non-aero (road bike) competition, first place went to Wei Tsung Yao in 26m 15s, followed by Ian Lakey, 27m 07s and Ian Chitty, 27m 13s. The Tandem pairing of Ian Greenstreet and Rachael Elliott (Newbury Velo) continue to set impressive times finishing in 20m 39s.
Next week we move East to the new 10 mile course on the A4 between Woolhampton and Theale, H10/1C. It promises to be an interesting evening with the winner sure to set a new record for the course.
However, before that, Sunday 9th May sees Newbury Road Club hosting the first Open event on the new 25 mile course between Thatcham and Theale – H25/1a. The course has already found favour with riders in the club events that have used it. With fewer roundabouts to negotiate and slightly less climbing, on what is already a very flat and fair course, riders have found it just a bit faster than the old course. Sunday will see riders chasing the current course record of 53m 17s for the men and 61m 48s and in a strong field it seems certain that both will fall. With 67 names on the Start Sheet, it’s the biggest field the event has seen since 2015. Scratch rider for the event Henrik Persson (Kingston Wheelers CC) is the only rider with a LTS of under 50 minutes but will be closely chased by Robin Short (Cotswold Veldrijden) and James Fawcett (a3crg). For the home club, Tristan Davenne is best placed for an award riding off 53m 20s. The event also sees a strong ladies’ field making up a quarter of the riders which is really encouraging for the sport. Top seed Lizi Duncombe (Socks4Watts RT) will be chasing down the men with her LTS of 54m while she in turn will be chased by Caitlin Peters (Liv AWOL). Riding for Newbury RC, Claire Emons will be looking to enter the fray and get on the podium in her first Open event of the season.
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