Personal bests by Womack and Matthews to close the season
The last weekend of the time trials season, with stunning “scorchio” weather, turned out to be good for VC Baracchi members Chris Womack and Gary Matthews, who had saved the best till last.
Both of them rode personal bests at 25 miles and will be pleased to have ridden to the very end of the season.
Chris Womack rides the "25"
On Saturday, in the first of the Norwich Amateur Bicycle Club events from Wortwell, Womack just missed out on an improvement, with 24:18 at the 10-mile distance.
John Swanbury and Ali Banks rode 23:27 on the tandem and were second to CC Breckland riders Don Saunders and his grandson Declan Davies, who achieved 22:15. Davies is a very tall mature 13-year-old and in contrast Neil Turner of Gt Yarmouth CC was teamed with Ben, his 12-year-old son of more usual size, riding an open event for the first time. They were third in 24:16.
Swanbury rode again solo, in 25:51 and John Thompson achieved 27:32.
Nino Piccoli of Team Pedal Revolution.co.uk won in 20:22, a good ride with a softening tyre. Daniel Bloy of King’s Lynn CC was second in 21:34, with Duncan Murphy of Diss & District CC third in 21:58. Catherine Essex of King’s Lynn CC won the ladies’ prize in 23:59 and Ged Coles of Wolsey RC was the fastest veteran on standard.
In the NABC “25” on Sunday, Matthews was pleased with his PB of 1-02:16, a significant improvement. Womack chipped another ten seconds off his September best and set a new best time of 1-03:15, while Thompson finished in 1-11:53.
The VCB team of Swanbury and Banks were the only tandem entry, anxious to record a 25-mile time for 2011. Their realistic chance to set a club record on such a day was scuppered by a mechanical problem, when on the first of two laps the rear drive chain inexplicably came off and they had to stop. It took at least 30 seconds to get going again.
Try as they might, they could not restore the average speed above 25mph, though it would have been safely above it without the mishap. Their time of 1-00:18 was a personal best for the team, whose only previous 25, a year ago, was 1-02:45. They would have needed to be 22 seconds quicker to achieve their main aim.
The tandem pair passes HQ en route to the finish
Piccoli won in 54:09 from Gary Rushmore of King’s Lynn CC (55:09) and Bloy (56:08).
Mike Rainton rode the VTTA (East Anglia) 30-mile time trial based at Newmarket, where his modest achievement was eclipsed by Michael Hutchinson of In Gear Quickvit-Trainsharp who smashed the national competition 30-mile record of 57-31 set by Matt Illingworth in 1998.
Hutchinson was riding at an average of 32.35mph and this was his fourth national competition record. Nik Bowdler of Team Pedal Revolution.co.uk was second in 59:16 and Ian Cammish of Planet X third in 1-00:39.
Rainton’s time was 1-21:13 and he was pleased that this was good enough for him to earn his annual medal from the Veteran Time Trials Association for a slightly better performance against his age-related standard than last year.
- This Sunday at 9am, VC Baracchi hosts an entry-on-the-line informal duathlon from outside Gisleham Middle School for the Keith Stephens Memorial Trophy, open to all runners and cyclists from Lowestoft. All entries on the day will be welcomed.
