Richards and Moore on great form for VCB

Mark Richards of Velo Club Baracchi achieved 21:54 for ninth place among a big collection of sub-22-minute times in the East Anglian CC open 10-mile time trial on the A143 Bungay bypass.

James Moore sets off (photo by Fergus Muir)

Club-mate James Moore had a very good ride as well, with 22:44, but Chris Womack was disappointed with his time of 25:00, not least because it would have looked better if it had been one second quicker.

Daniel Bloy of team VeloVelocity was in a class of his own with 20:33, to win the Mick Groves Trophy, followed by Oliver Milk of Tri-Anglia in 21:33 and Steve Gorbutt of Diss CC in 21:35.

Team VeloVelocity won the team prize with the aggregate times of Bloy, Paul Jay 21:37 and Andrew Leggett 21:41. The winning lady was Sally Withey of Team Swift in 25:52.

The weather on Saturday for the event was dry with a head wind on the return leg from the Redenhall roundabout, which was the longer of the two. It was 4.5 miles out and 5.5 miles back.

Richards and Moore were in action again in Sunday’s Godric CC 25-mile open time trial and between the two it followed the same pattern, with Richards the faster but with Moore pushing hard to stay on terms.

Moore achieved 58:51 (probably a PB) and came third on handicap but Richards, riding as a seeded rider on number 20, stayed ahead in the results with 56:37 for fifth place on scratch.

Justin Homeward of VC Revolution won with 52:43 and the remaining top places were Bloy 53:17, Jay 55:45, Dan Black of Oxion CC 56:11 and then Richards. Moore was fourteenth. Fifty-one started.

The handicap winner was Trevor Caley, whose scratch time of 1-03:31 came down to a net 40:08 and the veteran winner on age standard time was Simon Daw of Veloschills Interbike with +11:24.

Paul Hayward of Rock Estate was fifth on handicap with his 1-01:52 actual time. Withey won for the ladies with 1-07:28, with Jenny Anderson of Gt Yarmouth CC in second place on 1-08:53.

The easterly wind got up during the event and near the middle of the field some of the riders would have benefited from this over the last quarter of the event, riding from Chicken roundabout to the finish.

After this coming weekend’s last time trials of the year are out of the way, local riders and runners will be able to plan for the Keith Stephens Memorial Duathlon on October 11.

VC Baracchi invites all local duathlon enthusiasts to this informal event with entry on the line outside Carlton Colville Primary School in Gisleham Road starting at 9am, with entry on the line and a silver perpetual trophy to win for the year.

Keith Stephens was a former treasurer of the club who died in a cycling accident in 2002. His enthusiasm for both running and cycling is remembered in this low key event, just perfect for training with a very keen competitive edge.

There will be a 25km ride sandwiched between two 5km runs. Last year Rock Estate members provided most of the muscle. Lee Cook successful defended his previous win and hopefully he will take part again this year.