At this morning’s very windy Somer Valley CC Open time trial, the
Wheelers found themselves in a spot of confusion and controversy.
Charles Rees, Simon Rouse and James Chant ‘won’ the team prize but unfortunately the
organisers were not happy about the fact
that Charles has been competing in road races for the Raleigh Avanti
team. Despite being informed that Charles has yet to ride a CTT event
for his new team and only has only competed as a Gillingham rider in
time trials in 2010, the organisers decided to not include his time in
the results. The hilly 21 mile course was part of the WTTA Hardrider series and Charles’ time of 51.16 would have been good enough for an excellent fifth overall. Simon Rouse was really happy with his time of 53.48, James Chant struggled to 56.36 while Grahame
Reed had his chain come off at the worst possible moment (at the bottom
of Frome’s notorious ‘ski slope’ hill) en route to his time of 59.38. Rob Pears (Bath CC) was the winning rider, beating Dave Kiddell (Cavalier CC) by just two seconds with a time of 48.51. ***
There was more success for riders from the Gillingham
Wheelers at the latest round of the National Mountain Bike Championships which was held last week. Picturesque
Margam Park
in South Wales was the venue where Shaftesbury rider
Paul Hopkins, competing for the Merida UK team, took a dominant win in the Vets
race, finishing more than two minutes
clear of his nearest competitor. Andy
Parsons also put in a strong ride to overtake several riders and finish in 11th. Emma Bradley (Torq Development), in the
women’s Masters race, matched Paul’s performance, completing the race well
clear of the field despite a couple of crashes while Kim Little came home 22nd
in a well-supported Open event.
Charles Rees has scored another road race win at the weekly evening
road race held at Moreton, near Wool in South Dorset,
sprinting for the line from the leading group of riders. Charles was also pleased to finish in the
main bunch of riders at the 87-miles Kings of Wessex elite level road race,
held over four laps of a circuit around Somerton and Langport. First place went to Justin Hoy of the Felt
Race Team. This road race was part of the Tour of Wessex festival, with this tough, three-day sportive ride now an established event on the calendar. Richard Hansford and nigel Brown both took on the challenge of Day Three across Somerset and Exmoor, Richard completing the 106 miles in 8.06.54 for a bronze award, and Nigel in 5.57.13, gaining a silver award.
Charles also finished in second position at last week’s
Somer Valley CC 10 mile time trial, recording a time of 21.57, with James Chant
in 8th (23.53) and John Phillips, in his last event before embarking on a 1700 miles charity ride across France and back (for Help The Heroes), was
19th (27.20). All three were very pleased to record their best 10 mile times of 2010 so far.
Closer to home, the ninth round of the Gillingham Wheelers’
time trial series took place on the Gillingham-Mere-Bourton-Wyke course last Wednesday, with
Charles Rees setting the fastest time of 23.25 to leave him a minute faster
than runner up Julian Chown (24.22). Kim
Little was just six seconds further back on 24.28. The fastest lady rider was Liz Hutson (28.55)
while Tom Brown headed the juniors with a time of 28.27. In the resurrected (and snappily-titled) Over-50s Vets On Standard for 10 Mile TTs Championship, Grahame Reed has a commanding lead with maximum scores in all but one event so far this season, with Mike Donovan second and Jenny Lucas third. All the times and positions are here
The next round of the time trial series is at Bruton, meet at the Industrial Estate near the railway station in time for a 1900 start, while the weekly Saturday rides
continue, meeting at Wheels Cycles in Station Road, Gillingham, with the ride
setting off at 9 am.
*** The latest news on the ‘Charles situation’ is that the National Secretary of CTT has agreed with the fact that Charles has been competing perfectly legitimately for GDW this season so hopefully Somer Valley will reinstate him into fifth place in the results and Charles, Simon and James will get their team award
