Mark Richards rides well in Diss TT

Mark “Titch” Richards before his start – “Smile please”

Last Tuesday in evening sunshine, Mark Richards, John Swanbury and John Thompson of VC Baracchi rode in the Diss CC club 10 on the “Brockdish Circuit,” which includes the A143 from Billingford to the Needham roundabout but takes in the villages on the old road on the way back.
Richards had a good ride, recording 23:34, which placed him sixth of the thirty riders and Swanbury was pleased enough with 26:25. Thompson was encouraged by a time of 29:35.  Gavin Moore of Team VeloVelocity won in 22:00.

Thompson sets off

Previously, Richards took ninth place in the Diss Duathlon organised by Tri-Anglia on April 12 with a total time of 1-34:03.
Liam Gentry competing for Rock Estate went even better and took sixth place in 1-31:32 and well-known Anglia Velo rider Jim Burgess was fourth in 1-30:31. The winner was Iain Robertson of Torq in 1-27:04. There were 143 finishers.
Swanbury and John Thompson rode the Wolsey Road Club open 25-mile time trial on Sunday. It stayed dry but was cold, with a northerly side-wind that did not really make it harder in either direction on the Waveney Valley course.
Swanbury’s time was 1-06:29 and Thompson achieved 1-14:42, which he regarded as a confidence booster because it was on the right side of 20mph, known as “evens.”
The winner was Mark Arnold of CC Desiragear with 53:45, with Daniel Bloy of Team VeloVelocity second in 54:45 and Martin Reynolds of Cambridge CC third in 56:55. Don Saunders and Declan Davies rode their tandem to 58:28 and the fastest lady was Verity Smith of Stowmarket & District CC with 1-05:58.