R5 Mower Mec 2-Up Series: Mid Shropshire Wheelers 10

Round 5 of The Mower Mec 2-Up Series saw a good turnout of nine teams in the Mid Shropshire Wheelers promotion. Held on the regular Oswestry Paragon 10 mile club course between Queen’s Head and Gobowen, familiarity with the course helped a first-time Oswestry Paragon pairing take a 51 second victory despite a significant age difference as Veteran Peter Fletcher teamed up with Jack Young despite a 33 year age gap. The pair crossed the line in a solid 23 minutes 22 seconds to see off father and son Mid Shropshire Wheelers team of Mark and Noah White.

Fletcher knew he had been in a race as Young lived up to his surname, riding strongly and making the senior rider push himself to greater heights, as Fletcher explained: “Having not competed in a 2-Up for over 10 years I thought, why not give it a bash, what’s the worst that can happen! The only issue being, it was with a young man 33 years my junior! We started off well enough and settled into a good pace and executed the ‘through and off’ reasonably well, but a couple of times I admittedly needed to push on a bit, the legs aren’t what they used to be! Overall Jack and I went well throughout, culminating in an all-out final mile or so. We were pleased to find out we’d won and would like to thank the organisers, timekeepers, marshals and all our fellow competitors on what was an excellent evening’s event”. Young’s short post-race comments also reflected how the disparate pair had gelled: “It went really well. Pete and I worked well together, I enjoyed the event”.

Fletcher wasn’t the only rider to find the sometimes surprising strength of youth making him work harder than expected as Mark White found himself clinging on to son Noah’s back wheel. The rolling course features a number of drags which suit the lighter weight of teenagers, with Noah occasionally having to ease off. With the time taken on the second rider in each pair dropping a rider is a distinct disadvantage; as pairs who work well together almost always navigate a course quicker due to the drafting effect, and their efforts were enough to push out another Oswestry pairing of Vikki Jones and Adam Riley into third place by 31 seconds. Mark White stated: “A good, strong father/son combo, we were surprised to take second place as we are both on road bikes not time trial.  Noah would have liked to have gone faster, but needed to slow down so he didn’t drop his dad”! Noah wasn’t the only Junior rider out for the evening as another Mid Shropshire Wheelers pairing had a great first teaming with 13 year old Tom Oxley and 12 year old Jude White made a very good entry into the Mower Mec Series with a creditable 26:56.  

Jones and Riley took the Mixed Team win in 24:44, seeing off Mixed Team Series leaders Mark Hill and Jan Davies of Hafren CC by 30 seconds. Jones and Riley consolidated their third spot in the standings as a result, with Jones stating: “Thanks to the Mid Shropshire Wheelers for putting the event on, a great atmosphere and good to see some new teams”.

Full:

Mixed Team:

Cumulative Standings after five rounds

Overall

Mixed Team