Paul Dennington wins VCB Athletes’ Cup

Paul Dennington secured the VC Baracchi Athletes’ Trophy, awarded for the best VCB ride with no aero aids in a nominated event.

Paul Dennington in the event (Photo by Dominic Austrin)

The Gt Yarmouth CC club 10 was used for this and Dennington achieved 25:11 on his road bike in competition with Paul Hayward (26:15) and Richard Allen (30:08).  Riding on a time trial bike the fastest rider overall was Simon Scott of Anglia Velo (23:16).

VC Baracchi riders in the VTTA East Anglian group 10-mile time trial from Wortwell won the team prize against two other teams of three.

Decided by best performances against age-related veteran standards, the prize went to the club by a large margin achieved by the combined efforts of Chris Womack, Ali Banks and John Swanbury.  Their actual times were 24:47, 25:23 and 25:35.

The very best performance on standard was by Chris Roberts of Team Pedal Revolution with 23:25 at age 72, a “plus” of 6:01 faster than his standard.  Jenny Anderson of Gt Yarmouth CC was the best woman on standard (+4:04 from her 25:55 time).

Sunday’s Diss & District CC open 25-mile time trial on the Thetford road from Bressingham attracted an entry of eighty, though fourteen were absent.  Lucas He was tenth equal, with 57:08.

Matthew Senter of Team VeloVelocity won in 53:06, with Harley Matthews of DAP CC second in 53:37 and his team-mate Richards took ninth place in 57:04.  Alex He recorded 1-08:14 and Richard Allen 1-17:31.

Two tandems were entered but only the VCB one appeared, on which Swanbury and Banks achieved 1-01:53 for the tandem prize.

Here comes the tandem (photo by Dominic Austrin)

It was a sunny morning, cold at first and with a light north-westerly breeze that made the outward leg noticeably harder and the return a bit quicker.  On this hilly road there is more than twice as much elevation gain and loss than on the Waveney Valley course or the A11/A14.

The last Godric CC evening 10 of the year was run in good conditions and the VCB times were Lucas He 21:07 (PB), Paul Dennington 22:20, Paul Hayward 22:35, Alex He 24:55 and Swanbury 25:17.  Matthews of DAP CC beat team-mate Mark Richards by 42 seconds, in 20:09.  Twenty-two rode.

This Sunday VCB will stage the District 50-mile championship.

John Thompson rode the “Anchors Aweigh” 207km audax on Saturday from Loddon, across the Reedham Ferry and to Winterton, Ness Point, Hulver, Southwold, Orford, Hoxne, Harleston, Homersfield, Bungay and Ellingham back to Loddon, taking 11 hours and 45 minutes..

He said, “It started good with a strong tail wind, but once turning south to Orford and for a good bit of the way to Hoxne it was a tiring headwind and then good again after that.