Tomos Hales took a superb win in Round 9 of the SB Sports Injuries Series on a fast night on a fast course. Hales stopped the watch on 20 minutes 59 seconds in the Hafren CC 10 on the popular Berriew course, which put him into joint Overall lead with his minute man, Jonathan Mills-Keeling thanks to a bit of experimentation. Hales coped best with a speedy leg to the turn before digging in deep to batter through the wind, pushing Mills-Keeling out by 31 seconds. That experimentation is a typical time triallist ploy – tinkering with position trying to game aero advantage. Clearly this tactic worked, as Hales explained: “I tried a new position setup for the Hafren 10 Mile time trial which seemed pretty comfortable. It was a very quick ‘out’ leg, which left a lot of work to do on the return. I was very happy the time keepers gave me just under 21 minutes, thanks Hafren CC for organising”.

Going into the race Mills-Keeling seemed more concerned about staying away from Hales bearing down on him, which saw a great effort to take Overall runner-up spot in 21:30 as well as the Veterans win with +5:27, 1:42 ahead of nearest challenger Mark Hill. Mills-Keeling now holds joint lead of the Overall standings but increased his lead to a huge 82 points in the Veterans standings. He stated: “A nice evening, I like the course and was happy to come away with second and not get caught by Tomos – thanks all involved”.

Whilst other riders commented on the effect of the wind Chris Lewis wasn’t fazed; with sunshine and a great road surface to enjoy as he took third spot. Lewis crossed the line in 22:13, a comfortable 1:25 ahead of Hafren team mate Neil Bowden, and was pleased to do his bit for the team: “Happy to take third place and get a Top 3 result for Hafren – perfect conditions and some really fast times”.

There’s a new leader in the SB Road Bike Series as Ashley Kirkham overhauled Matt Muir by eight points after finishing in a handicap-adjusted 27:54. But winner was Hafren’s Mick Case in a 1-2-3 for the club in an adjusted 24:28. Case is returning from illness and was happy enough with his progress, commenting: “It went pretty well as I’m gradually getting back up to speed after a poor 2023 which I think may have been due to a bout of Covid in the Spring. I was still over a minute off my road bike personal best on this course from 2022; but happy considering the strong headwind on the return leg”.

In the SB Female Series Hafren’s Jan Davies took the win by 30 seconds from Helen Tudor to end her evening on 26:18; making up some ground on Hayley Wells the Series leader in the process. Davies still has a 46 point deficit and was concerned about the effect of two night’s racing in a row after riding the Mowermec 2-Up Series the evening before. She didn’t need to worry: “I’d done a 2-Up on the Tuesday so I was pleasantly surprised my legs actually worked on the Wednesday evening. Home turf, feel like I know this course now, always room for improvement though”! One of Davies’ challengers was team mate Jess Bufton, who made her first appearance of 2024 in the SB Series. 16 year old Bufton took the win in the SB Junior Series with a fine 30:22.

Result:

Pos’n Name Club Cat Time Points
1 Tomos Hales Wrekinsport CC S 20:59 20
2 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Aerologic GT V 21:30 18
3 Chris Lewis Hafren CC S 22:13 16
4 Neil Bowden Hafren CC V 23:38 14
5 Mark Hill Hafren CC V 23:39 12
6 Neil Vose Hafren CC V 24:01 10
7 Mick Case Hafren CC V 25:44 8
8 Peter Villiers Hafren CC V 25:50 6
9 Jan Davies Hafren CC FV 26:18 4
10 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC FV 26:48 2
11 Karen Proctor Hafren CC FV 28:10 2
11 Alun Roberts Hafren CC V 28:10 2
13 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V 28:17 2
14 Jess Bufton Hafren CC FJ 30:22 2

Veterans:

Vets Pos’n Name Club Cat Vet +/- Vets Points
1 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Aerologic GT V +5:27 20
2 Mark Hill Hafren CC V +3:45 18
3 Neil Vose Hafren CC V +3:09 16
4 Neil Bowden Hafren CC V +2:45 14
5 Jan Davies Hafren CC FV +2:39 12
6 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC FV +2:32 10
7 Peter Villiers Hafren CC V +1:41 8
8 Mick Case Hafren CC V +1:40 6
9 Alun Roberts Hafren CC V +1:17 4
10 Karen Proctor Hafren CC FV +0:55 2
11 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V -1:46 2

Females:

Female Pos’n Name Club Cat Time Female Points
1 Jan Davies Hafren CC FV 26:18 20
2 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC FV 26:48 18
3 Karen Proctor Hafren CC FV 28:10 16
4 Jess Bufton Hafren CC FJ 30:22 14

Road Bikes:

RB Pos’n Name Club Cat RB Adj Time RB Points
1 Mick Case Hafren CC V 24:28 20
2 Alun Roberts Hafren CC V 24:51 18
3 Karen Proctor Hafren CC FV 25:13 16
4 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V 27:54 14

Junior:

Junior Pos’n Name Club Cat Time Junior Points
1 Jess Bufton Hafren CC FJ 30:22 20

Cumulative Standings after nine rounds

Overall

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Aerologic RT V 134
1 Tomos Hales Wrekinsport CC S 134
3 Dean Callister Aerologic RT S 60
=4 Chris Riley Paramount CRT V 56
=4 Hayley Wells Wrekinsport CC F 56
6 Oil Freeman Wrekinsport CC S 44
7 Devon Round Mid Shropshire Wheelers S 38
8 Mark Hill Hafren CC V 36
9 Mark Pritchard Aerologic RT S 32
10 Richard Nickless Paramount CRT V 26

Veterans:

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Aerologic RT V 158
2 Chris Riley Paramount CRT V 76
3 Mark Hill Hafren CC V 60
4 Jan Davies Hafren CC FV 48
5 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V 40
6 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC FV 36
7 Scott Palmer Aerologic RT V 34
=8 Richard Nickless Paramount CRT V 32
=8 Rob Kennard Aerologic RT V 32
10 Geoff Edgerton North Shropshire Wheelers V 28

Females:

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Hayley Wells Wrekinsport CC F 120
2 Jan Davies Hafren CC FV 74
3 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC FV 70
4 Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC FV 18
5 Karen Proctor Hafren CC FV 16
=6 Emma Brown Paramount CRT F 14
=6 Jess Bufton Hafren CC FJ 14

Road Bikes:

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V 54
2 Matt Muir Propel CC V 46
3 Mark Fenn SCCA 1st Claim Member V 40
4 Peter Everett Oswestry Paragon CC V 34
=5 Adam Riley Oswestry Paragon CC V 20
=5 Dan Watts SCCA Private Member S 20
=5 Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC FV 20
=5 Mick Case Hafren CC V 20
=5 Steve Minton Ludlow Brewery RT V 20
=10 Alun Roberts Hafren CC V 18
=10 Ben Bramford-Hale Newport Shropshire CC J 18
=10 Jack Young Oswestry Paragon CC S 18
=10 Richard Simpson Market Drayton CC V 18
=10 Stacey Morgan Ludlow Brewery RT V 18
=10 Tim Mayo Propel CC S 18

Juniors:

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Ben Southgate Wrekinsport CC J 60
=2 Ben Bramford-Hale Newport Shropshire CC J 20
=2 Jess Bufton Hafren CC FJ 20