17 riders turned out for the first hillclimb of the 2015 season. It was pretty chilly and there was a very strong crosswind up over the top of the climb. Kim Little made it look easy with a time of 3.43, not quite a pb for him but not far off. James Chant and Nigel Brown tied for second on 4.20 with Pete Humphreys in fourth and setting a pb in spite of suffering from a cold all week.
Jay Hookins was fifth, Rowan Birch sixth while a pb for Liam Teesdale on his mountain bike got him seventh.
Of the women rider, it was first blood to Sarah Wheeler who beat Lynn Broom and Sarah Roberts. There was only one junior present so it was maximum points for James Howell.
Full results are on the ‘current results’ page.
NATIONAL MOUNTAIN BIKE CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND ONE
Sherwood Pines in Nottinghamshire was the venue for the opening round of British Cycling National XC Series. The races on day one had ideal conditions on what is a fairly flat course, but things deteriorated overnight and through Sunday. Liam Teesdale was one of 57 starters for the five lap Sport race and put in some good lap times to come home in 38th place.
With the wet weather setting in for the day, the lap times fell away through Sunday with the riders struggling for grip. Kim Little has moved up to Expert category for this season and felt like he had a bit of an off day but after a couple of crashes still finished in 11th.
Nigel Brown had a strong race in the three laps Grand Vets race (over 50s). Nigel was third, just 22 seconds behind the winner even though he was riding on summer tyres.
In the Vets, Paul Hopkins got off to the perfect start to the series by taking an impressive win from pre-race favourite Ian Taylor.. the tow were closely matched for much of the race until Paul put in a storming last lap to win by 32 seconds. Andy Parsons finished in 40th in a race which had over 80 starters.
WTTA HARDRIDERS TT SERIES
Round four of the series was a 31 miles rolling course near Malmesbury and was held on a sunny morning with a light North wind. The GDW riders brought up the rear somewhat, with James Chant the highest placed in 31st with a time of 1 hour 22.56. Chris Mullett finished on 1.26.26 and Sarah Wheeler got round in 1.35.44, slowed down by a puncture in the final mile or so.
It’s very much early days in the series but Sarah is currently heading the women’s championship in a bid to retain her title from 2014 while Sarah, Chris and James are second in the team’s listing.
WESSEX RC TIME TRIAL
Another weekend, and another hilly tt for James, Chris and Sarah, who were joined by Vince Hounsome for the 24 miles course which runs from Wimborne to Horton, then to Blandford and back to Wimborne via Badbury Rings. It was wet with high winds on the day, with the section past the Dorset steam fair site being particularly hard. Vince always goes well on this course and finished in 13th with a time of 1.03.11, even with a skid to a stop along the way at the True Lovers’ Knot pub when a car stopped in front of him. James also had to come to a near stop at the pub junction, eventually finishing in 1.05.56. Three minutes further back was Chris on 1.08.56 while Sarah put in a good ride to beat Sarah Wise (of MSG) and win the fastest lady prize.
