Pearson and Newnham ride well

Mark Pearson of Velo Club Baracchi showed good early season form with a 24:24 ride in the Gt Yarmouth CC open 10-mie time trial on Good Friday.

He beat club-mate Mark Newnham, whose 24:34 also stood out as a good ride.

It was a fine sunny morning but particularly for the early starters including Pearson the air was cold.  The first leg, which started not far from the Redenhall roundabout and ran to Clays’ roundabout was helped by a light tailwind that was remarkably stiffer to ride into on the return.

Other VCB times were John Swanbury 26:11, Chris Womack 26:25, Gary Matthews 26:53, Mike Rainton 27:45, Jenny Anderson 28:41 and Tracy Prewer 31:32.  John Dupen did not finish and Mike Wood did not start. Matthews was again on his ordinary road bike.

Anderson’s time won her one of the handicap awards, so it was clearly a good ride. The fastest lady was Laura Gambling of CC Breckland with 24:58.

The winner of the event was Liam Gentry who rode last year for VC Baracchi and now for Strada Sport RT, whose time was 21:40.  In road racing style despite this being a time trial he made a short speech thanking the organisers and also his runner-up Jim Burgess for kindly being 10 seconds late at the start.

The 10 seconds added to his time had given Burgess a total of 21:43 and without the penalty he would have won.

On Saturday John Thompson rode the “Double Dutch” 208 km Audax, starting and finishing at Huntingdon.

He said, “First it went to Ramsay for an info control, then to March for a receipt control (that is, instead of the card being stamped, you have to buy some food and/or drink and obtain a receipt), then to Nordelph near Downham Market for the next info control, Kings Lynn receipt control, Holbeach St Matthew info control, Spalding receipt control and finally via Thorney and Whttlesea to Huntingdon.”

It was a fairly flat route, except for a few undulations near Huntingdon and Thompson completed it in about eleven-and-a-quarter hours.

Thompson added, “However, it was a very strong headwind for the first 84km to Kings Lynn and although it was predominantly a tail wind after that, that leg did ‘cost’ a lot of time.”

He made a long weekend of it including a Sunday ride on a little circuit of about 37 miles through some very nice country lanes and villages to Oundle, and on Monday riding a very quiet part of the ‘old’ A1 on his way to Peterborough for the train home.

Details and application forms for the Beccles Cycle for Life charity ride on May 13 are on www.becclescycleforlife.org