The curse of road works struck again leading to some frantic last minute rearrangements for organiser Fliss Connor as Round 6 of the SB Sports Injuries Series, Nova Raiders 10 migrated from the Cherrington – Newport 10 course to the Waters Upton to Hodnet 10 for the second year running – with competitors enduring block headwind and heavy rain for good measure.

Wrekinsport’s Tomos Hales took his third victory of the Series to narrow the gap to leader Jonathan Mills-Keeling with a great effort of 21 minutes 30 seconds, taking the win by 43 seconds. Hales has been on sparkling form of late and he made the most of the strong tailwind to Hodnet before punching through the win and rain that blighted the return. He stated: ”A late course change due to road works again took away the chance for me to do the K52/10c which I am yet to race. The Waters Upton course was very fast ‘out’ with a very wet return leg. Thanks for Nova for their quick thinking with road works, and all the marshals that stood in the rain for us”.

Hales closed Mills-Keeling’s lead down to eight points as the Bridgnorth CC rider put up a strong defense by finishing in the runner-up spot in 22:13. Mills-Keeling also ha work to do to defend his lead of the SB Veterans Series too, limiting the damage done by Veteran’s winner Deb Hutson-Lumb to a two point loss after Mills-Keeling took another runner-up spot with +4:33. He commented: “It was dream tailwind to the turn and then a block headwind back with heavy rain. Well done to Tomos on the win, everyone for racing and Nova for putting on”.

Mills-Keeling’s nearest challenge on actual came from club mate and triathlete Christopher Wood, making a return to time trialling after a long absence and posting a great time of 23:19, 21 seconds ahead of Hutson-Lumb. His presence attracted the welcome sight of three members of Telford Triathlon Club, getting in some valuable training for the bike leg. Wood stated: “It was great fun to be back time trialling after several year’s absence, despite the weather and a misty visor – a nice preparation event for a Sunday Triathlon, and likewise to see lots of fellow triathletes in attendance – looking forward to plenty more over the season”.

Hutson-Lumb took her customary double win as she stretched her lead of the SB Women’s Series to a huge 44 points, with a fantastic effort of 23:40, with Nova Raiders’ Jenny Newton runner-up in 26:38 graphically showing the strength of that ride. The Wrekinsport CC rider was delighted to see women making up an encouraging 45% of the field: “Despite getting drenched it’s good to be back racing after a few weeks off and I did enjoy it. Fabulous to see so many women riding and hopefully the newbies won’t be put off by the weather“.

Another Wrekinsport rider took the maximum 20 points on offer in the SB Junior Series as Ben Southgate opened up his Series lea to 38 points with a fine effort of 23:42, helping himself to 5th spot on the night.

Full:

Pos’nNameClubCatTimePoints
1Tomos HalesWrekinsport CCS21:3020
2Jonathan Mills-KeelingBridgnorth CCV22:1318
3Christopher WoodBridgnorth CCV23:1916
4Deb Hutson-LumbWrekinsport CCWV23:4014
5Ben SouthgateWrekinsport CCJ23:4212
6George CoombesSCCA Private MemberS24:0910
7Jenny NewtonNova RaidersWV26:388
8Richard BradshawTelford Triathlon ClubV28:30.
9Karen SherriffNova RaidersWV29:006
10Susan WilliamsTelford Triathlon ClubWV31:55.
11Sarah BradshawTelford Triathlon ClubWV35:03.

Women:

Womens Pos’nNameClubCatTimeWomens Points
1Deb Hutson-LumbWrekinsport CCWV23:4020
2Jenny NewtonNova RaidersWV26:3818
3Karen SherriffNova RaidersWV29:0016
4Susan WilliamsTelford Triathlon ClubWV31:55.
5Sarah BradshawTelford Triathlon ClubWV35:03.

Veterans:

Vets Pos’nNameClubCatVet +/-Vets Points
1Deb Hutson-LumbWrekinsport CCWV+6:2820
2Jonathan Mills-KeelingBridgnorth CCV+4:3318
3Christopher WoodBridgnorth CCV+3:2216
4Jenny NewtonNova RaidersWV+2:5714
5Karen SherriffNova RaidersWV-0:0812
6Richard BradshawTelford Triathlon ClubV-1:29.
7Susan WilliamsTelford Triathlon ClubWV-1:47.
8Sarah BradshawTelford Triathlon ClubWV-5:51.

Junior:

Junior Pos’nNameClubCatTimeJunior Points
1Ben SouthgateWrekinsport CCJ23:4220

Cumulative Standings after six rounds

Overall

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Bridgnorth CC V 98
2 Tomos Hales Wrekinsport CC S 90
3 Darren Shaw SCCA Private Member V 42
4 Tim Beardmore Bridgnorth CC V 38
5 Dan Watts SCCA Private Member S 36
6 Dean Callister Revolutions Racing S 34
7 Oliver Rodwell Wrekinsport CC V 32
8 Chris Riley Paramount CRT V 28
=9 Bryn Davies Hafren CC V 26
=9 Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC WV 26

Veterans

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Bridgnorth CC V 108
2 Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC WV 80
3 Darren Shaw SCCA Private Member V 58
4 Chris Riley Paramount CRT V 50
5 Tim Beardmore Bridgnorth CC V 38
=6 Bryn Davies Hafren CC V 30
=6 Oliver Rodwell Wrekinsport CC V 30
8 Rich Smith Wrekinsport CC V 26
9 James Powell North Shropshire Wheelers V 18
=10 Christopher Wood Bridgnorth CC V 16
=10 James Neale North Shropshire Wheelers V 16

Women’s

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC WV 80
2 Clare O’Donnell Wrekinsport CC WV 36
3 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC WV 32
4 Jan Davies Hafren CC WV 28
5 Clare Cotterill Wrekinsport CC WV 20
=6 Bethan Till Wrekinsport CC W 18
=6 Cerys Greaves SCCA Private Member WJ 18
=6 Jenny Newton Nova Raiders WV 18
=6 Marie Llewellyn Nova Raiders W 18
10 Karen Sherriff Nova Raiders WV 16

Juniors

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Ben Southgate Wrekinsport CC J 58
=2 Cerys Greaves SCCA Private Member WJ 20
=2 Chester Romei North Shropshire Wheelers J 20
=2 Harry Corney North Shropshire Wheelers J 20