Matthews wins 25-mile champs

Gary Matthews of Velo Club Baracchi won the club’s 25-mile championship in 1-01:16, riding in Godric CC’s club event on Saturday which doubled as the VCB competition.

Jenny Anderson won the club’s ladies’ championship in 1-07:22 from Tracy Prewer (1-13:43).

The other VCB times were Mark Newnham 1-02:12 and Mike Rainton 1-08:10.  The fastest rider overall was Richard Dunnett of Diss & District CC with 56:48.

Sunday’s Gt Yarmouth CC club time trial attracted fifteen entries and the inter-club Holmes Cup competition with VC Baracchi will be influenced by the results.

The relative standings remain to be decided, as they will depend on handicap calculations, but on scratch the fastest rider was Yarmouth’s Neil Turner with 1-00:12, with his club-mate Matt Smith second in 1-01:12 and VCB’s Newnham third in 1-12:13.

Other VCB times were Pat Harbord 1-07:37, Jenny Anderson 1-10:09 and Richard Allen 1-14:39.

John Dupen and John Swanbury of VCB found the VTTA East Anglian open 10-mile time trial on the A11 very hard and their times reflected a hard battle.

The first leg from Six Mile Bottom, just beyond Newmarket, headed south west to Four Went Ways and into the wind, with a tailwind return. There was a full field of 120 riders and the air was warm.

Dupen recorded 24:19 and Swanbury 24:59.  At least the second five miles were enjoyable, with an opportunity to raise the speed and make the best of the occasion.

Peter Balls of West Suffolk Wheelers rode the fastest time, 20:02. Second was Gary Empson of Shorter Rochford RT with 20:21. Local rider and former VCB member Liam Gentry of Strada Sport was seventh or thereabouts with 21:00.

Swanbury rode the last of the evening Diss & District CC club 10-mile time trials on the Billingford course and achieved 25:38, half-way down the field of eighteen riders.

John Thompson rode Sunday’s Stowmarket & District CC open 10-mile time trial on the A14 between Rougham and the Elmswell slip road.

His time was 29:07, achieved despite not feeling a little off colour, which would hardly have helped.  However he felt he was able to work harder than recently.

The event was won by Ian Cammish of Soniccycles.co.uk in 21:06.

During the previous weekend’s Mildenhall rally Thompson rode the Suffolk CTC 206km audax and was caught in heavy rain in the late morning, together with a good drenching in the last two miles.

The route included Acton, Long Melford, Lavenham, Stowmarket, Diss, Wymondham, Swaffham, Mildenhall and Lakenheath.

Thompson finished “as a drowned rat” after completing the distance in eleven-and-a-quarter hours.  He said, “The final 43 kilometres from Swaffham were expected to be hard but as it turned out were quite easy.  It was also a pleasant ride through the lanes of Thetford Forest. Generally we were lucky with the wind direction.”