Richards rides well in VC Baracchi open 10

Velo Club Baracchi’s open time trial on the A143 Waveney Valley course on May Day was blessed by a mostly sunny morning but there was a wind that increased during the event and made the return leg to Wortwell hard.

Titch Richards (all roadside photos by courtesy of Mitch Porter

The top VCB rider was Mark Richards with 23:04 and the other times were George Kerridge 24:03, Chris Womack 25:21, John Swanbury 26:40 and Nicki Hawkes 26:49, with which she won the prize for second lady.

Nicki Hawkes

George Kerridge

Chris Womack

John Swanbury

The first machine on the course was a tandem ridden by Swanbury and Ali Banks, who achieved 24:03 by their first joint ride of the year.
The top four were Mark Arnold of CC Desiragear in 21:18, Matt Eley of Ely & District CC 22:12, Andrew Leggett of Team VeloVelocity 22:27 and John Swindells of Iceni Velo 22:30. Chris Nudds was the top veteran with a “plus” of 4:40 on age standard from his 23:43 time.
Verity Smith of Stowmarket & District CC won the ladies’ first prize with 25:19 and with it the Jane Travers Memorial Trophy. Jenny Anderson of Gt Yarmouth CC was third. The team prize went to Iceni Velo.
Hawkes and her VCB team ably organised and staged the event, with valued help from members of other clubs.
Four VCB riders in the first Godric CC evening 10 last week included new member Tim Revell, who, despite the strong cold wind achieved 31:01 in his debut ride on a hybrid bike with mudguards.

Mew member Tim Revell on his hybrid Trek

The other VCB riders struggled to post reasonable times. Richards was the best of them with 24:37, beating Paul Dennington (24:41) by just a few seconds and Swanbury (27:14) by rather more.
The top three were Jim Burgess of Anglia Velo (22:12), Sean Taylor of RAF CA (22:46) and Lee Cook of Rock Estate (22:57).
In Wednesday’s CC Breckland club 10 Thompson achieved 30:14 on the two-lap, five-mile circuit starting and finishing near Griston. It was a tough evening and this was five seconds slower than the previous time on this course, less than Thompson might have feared.  Steve Gorbutt of Diss CC won in 22:41, half a minute slower than of late.
Thompson rode Saturday’s King’s Lynn CC 10 held on their usual triangular course starting on the A10 near South Runcton and finishing at Wormegay.
He said, “It’s a hilly course and the wind didn’t help much at all, being side wind more or less all the way except for just about the last mile, if that.” He just got inside “evens” with 29:45. Daniel Bloy (Team VeloVelocity.co.uk) won in 20:55.
Sunday’s VC Norwich event was rained off.
• On-the-day entry in Beccles Cycle for Life on Sunday is possible at the new venue, the Sir John Leman High School in Ringsfield Road. 200 riders are pre-entered. See www.becclescycleforlife.org for details.