After last week’s deluge and subsequent cancellation, a pleasant dry evening with a reducing gentle breeze, greeted the maximum entry of 60 riders for the club’s last 20km TT of the season. So popular have these Wednesday night post lockdown TTs become that the event had 14 riders on the reserve list and again women riders made up 25% of the entry.
All great signs of how healthy time trialling is in the club and the surrounding area with the attendance of regular visitors. It’s also very rewarding for the club officials who have put in a lot of effort to get the required extra procedures in place. The result has produced some great events in this shortened season with new winners, close times in both men’s and women’s categories and the appearance of some promising young riders and even a tandem.
Ash Mahoney on his way to a second victory this season (photo Paul Dean)
Last night’s event was particularly close with the first three riders covered by just 25 seconds. Ash Mahoney (Drag2Zero) set a time of 26.49, producing the first double win of the season, beating first Star rider Luke Norris home by just 5 seconds. In third place, 20 seconds further back, was seasoned campaigner Jon Simpkins, whose past dominance of this course is now passing to younger riders. Jon had in fact held the club course record since 2009 which Luke managed to lower by 2 seconds to a time of 26.54. A total of 14 riders managed to get under the 30-minute mark, with many setting personal bests in near ideal conditions.
In the women’s category this season young Lydia Watts (AWOL) has been leading the way, with Star rider Naomi de Pennington providing her main competition. Naomi has been getting closer and closer to Lydia’s times and put in a great effort to beat her 24 seconds on this occasion. Naomi 30.56, Lydia 31.20, with Annie Heaney 32.11 in third, followed by Suzi Patience 32.21 and Denise Shepherd 33.02.
Naomi de Pennington puts in a strong ride (photo Paul Dean)
Top 12 results: 1.Ash Mahoney: 26.49, 2.Luke Norris: 26.54, 3.Jon Simpkins: 27.14, 4.Mark Ellis: 27.44, 5.Simon Smart: 27.49, 6.Simon Bull: 28.15, 7.Harry Kirby: 28.23, 8.Dan Chambers: 28.35, 9.Ben Heaney: 29.17, 10.Tobi Ng: 29.23, 11.Darren Alexander: 29.32, 12.Lee Heron: 29.53