Personal bests in the Gt Yarmouth CC Good Friday 10

Velo Club Baracchi riders started their long weekend with great rides including some personal bests in the Gt Yarmouth CC Good Friday 10-mile open time trial.

Fastest of them was Nick Partridge in 20:44, but a 29:09 personal best by Francesca Dixon-Grant and a great debut ride by junior Billy Girling in 24:06 stood out.

Other VCB times were Paul Hayward 22:34, Mark Saunders 23:12, Steve Grant 23:57, Paul Wright 23:32, Alex He 24:46, Chris Womack 25:49, John Swanbury 25:49, Stuart Chase 25:51, Paul Reed 25:53 and Richard Allen 30:05.

Denise Hurren of Team VeloVelocity won the women’s event and Jason Bouttell of Team Vision Racing-Silverhook the men’s in 19:38.

Womack and Swanbury went on to ride Saturday’s Shaftesbury CC Middlemarkers 25 from Newmarket and Womack came out the better in 59:42 to Swanbury’s 1-03:56. Martin Canes of Chelmer CC won in 52:36.

On Easter Sunday Partridge won the VTTA 10-mile time-trial with an impressive time of 21:09 and Hayward rode well with 23:17.

At the Fakenham Easter Criterium races VCB’s Josh Peck took part in his first ever junior criterium race, riding hard throughout.  Steve Grant rode in the 3/4 race with a determined performance.

Ian Reid rode the Easter Arrow 400km Audax ride. Exceptionally, this one is a 24-hour team event. Teams of 3 to 5 riders set off together from wherever they are in the country and ride to York. Teams must ride for 24 hours and cover at least 360km, collecting proof of location (usually till receipts for food!) at designated control points.

Reid joined a team of 5 starting out from the Tower of London at 10am on Friday and heading via Cambridge, Mildenhall, Whittlesey, Boston, Gainsborough and Goole, arriving in York by 10am on Saturday with 15 minutes to spare – 435km at an average moving pace of 23kph (14.4 mph).

He said, “With daytime temperatures hitting 23°C across the Fens the team made good progress. As the sun set in a clear sky the night grew cold and by the early hours of the morning a damp mist brought temperatures down to a bone-chilling 2°C.”

John Thompson and Kate Churchill rode the “Double Dutch” 200 km Audax from Huntingdon to controls at Ramsey, March, Nordelph, King’s Lynn, Holbeach St Matthews and Spalding, returning to Huntingdon.

Churchill’s moving average of just over 17.5 mph was her fastest ever speed for a 200. Thompson finished in just over 11 hours, which he was “well pleased with” and he had savoured the tailwind “pretty much all the way for the final 55 miles.”

A 50-mile club run was enjoyed by five riders, with a stop at the Earsham Street café.