Partridge wins VCB 10-mile championship; Francesca Dixon-Grant the ladies champ

Nick Partridge surged to victory in the VC Baracchi 10-mile championship last Tuesday, with 20:23, just a second outside his course-best time.

His time was also the fastest overall. Francesca Dixon-Grant earned the VCB ladies’ championship in 27:46.

The event took place within the Godric CC club time trial at Earsham, which boasted a record number of 46 riders in all.

Also riding in the VCB championship were Paul Dennington 22:47, Paul Hayward 22:50, Stuart Supple 23:34, Billy Girling 24:07, Alex He 24:46 and Chris Womack 25:01. 

Steve Dixon-Grant and Paul Reed elected to ride two-up and achieved 24:28. There were eleven two-up teams from Godric CC and other clubs. This result slotted in at fourth.

Ali Banks took part in his first tandem ride of the year, partnering John Swanbury to 24:03.

Other notable rides included Zac Herrod (AeroLab Ward WheelZ) 20:44, Mark Richards (DAP CC) 21:11 and Liam Gentry (DAP CC) 22:30.

In Thursday evening’s very warm Gt Yarmouth CC 10 at Lound, VCB times were Dennington 23:51 and Chris Womack 26:23.

Fifteen rode and Dennington was the fastest overall, with Womack fourth.  The fastest from the home club was Simon Tate in 25:12 and Jenny Anderson was the fastest lady in 27:24.

John Swanbury and Kate Churchill made a trek on Saturday to the A428 road just west of Cambridge to ride in the open tandem event staged by Chronos RT.

They were hoping against hope that the rain would abate and allow the time trial to happen.

Four tandems were entered but, like many of the solos, the other three teams did not appear, put off by the weather.

As luck would have it, there was a dry weather window for the event, with a drying carriageway and some reasonable times despite a headwind to the turn.

The VCB pair recorded 22:49, which was a personal best and a corresponding new club record for mixed tandem.

The winner of the solo event in 18:51 was a Cambridge University PhD student, John Mulvey, riding for the multi-sponsored elite ActiveEdge Race Team.

VCB’s luck with the weather did not hold on Sunday morning.  Dennington drove in vain to the VTTA East Anglian Group 25 from Newmarket, which was cancelled just before he arrived as the result of persistent heavy rain.  A coned-off section of two lanes on the road that would also have been enough to cause cancellation compounded this.