25 riders were treated to some surprisingly good weather conditions on Wednesday evening, leading to several course best times and and some new club records. Paul Hopkins took his fourth win in a row, recording the fastest ever time by a GDW rider on this course with 44.50. Vince Hounsome was second with a pb of 47.31 ahead of Nigel Brown, who just pipped Kim Little for third.
Jane Pritchard knocked one minute 45 seconds from her pb to set a new record for a GDW lady rider with 54.02 while Josh Day posted the fastest ever juniors’ time with 48.47.
The other big improvements came from Alex Hookins and James Chant, who both knocked over a minute and a half from their previous best times.
Full results here
Elsewhere, the Southern XC mountain bike series continued at Wasing Estate, near Reading. Paul Hopkins, riding for the Merida Factory team, has stepped up to the Elite category for this series. Paul had to start from the back of the pack and had a difficult first lap which saw him end up in some nettles at one point, but he came through strongly and finished 11th, just missing out on a top 10 finish in a final sprint.
Emma Bradley (WXC) came fourth in the women’s Elite race behind Downhill World Champion Tracey Mosely while Kim Little was 22nd in the Masters race.
Andy Parsons and Nigel Brown competed in the Vets race, Andy doing well for 8th ahead of Nigel in 20th. The next round takes place on June 5th at Crow near Ringwood, enter online here
The weekend tt-ers all had to struggle against some strong winds in various events. Vince Hounsome put in a great ride at the latest EDCA round, a 25 mile tt at Poole. Vince finished with a time of 1.00.15 for 14th place, a result which leaves him in 5th place overall in the championship. The winner was Simon Tout (VC St Raphael) with 55.10.
James Chant was also 14th in his tt, round seven of the WTTA Hardriders championship. The Westbury Wheelers put on a really well organised event on a very enjoyable course. James covered the 24 miles from Warminster to Westbury via Chitterne, Tilshead and Bratton in 1.00.39.
Simon Rouse took part in the Northover Vets dual event at the weekend, a 10 mile tt on Saturday followed by a 25 mile tt on Sunday on the Podimore A303 courses. Both were ‘slow days’, Simon getting 35th with 1.05.10 in the 25 and 25th in the 10 miler with a time of 24.12. Alan Smith also competed in the Saturday event and was 42nd with 26.37.
