Josh Day won tonight’s hillclimb, crossing the line in 4.42. There was a nagging head/crosswind for the riders to push against resulting in slower times than normal. James Chant was second in 5.03 with Simon Barfoot in third. Liam Teesdale was fourth, just ahead of Rowan Birch and Jon York. Chris Mullett was seventh and Daryol Laws eighth.
Rowan Birch’s grandparents took some photos during the hillclimb, you can see them on Rowan’s Facebook page here, video from Mike Smith here
Somer Valley CC held their Open tt on ‘our’ Bruton course on Saturday afternoon. A strong South-Easterly wind meant the first half of the course was very hard but then from Mere onwards was pretty quick going. Vince Hounsome was 14th and fastest GDW rider with 48.45. James Chant was 18th on 49.33 with Grahame Reed and Chris Mullett closely matched in 31st and 32nd places in 53.11 and 53.28. Rob Pears was the winner in 43.21.
Nigel Brown recorded a new 10 mile personal best time at the Frome Wheelers club event last week. Nigel’s time was 22.28.
At the Southern XC mountain bike races on Sunday, James Chant won the entry-level two lap race. On a tricky course near Crow on the edge of the New Forest, James was initially in the midfield in about 12th but gradually passed the other riders to win, although he had no idea he was in the lead until hearing the commentator at the finish. His time was 52 minutes for the two laps.
Nigel Brown and Andy Parsons had an early battle in the four lap Vets race, with Andy ahead to begin with. Nigel moved past towards the end of lap one and then made his way up to 14th place at the finish. Nigel’s race time was 1.36.27 with Andy around three minutes behind in 17th.
