Coaching Revolutions Shropshire Championship 4-Up.

Photos courtesy of Nigel "Biggles" Brunton Go to Full Gallery

The course and event record were both smashed in the highly anticipated Coaching Revolutions Shropshire Championship 4-Up as a strong RAF CA squad lopped a huge margin off both benchmarks at Edgmond. The squad, comprising Dan Watts, Matt Garthwaite, Ryan Morley and Antony Richardson stormed around a 50 kilometre course taking in Crudgington, Shawbirch and Hodnet in a fabulous 1 hour, 2 minutes and 30 seconds to beat the Course Record set in 2012 by Paramount CRT by 2:37 and Rhino Velo’s Event Record from 2016 by 1:10, averaging over 30mph in glorious conditions despite getting held up at three turning points.

Watts had made sure to carefully check the old records pre-race, indicating that an attempt to challenge those benchmarks was clearly in the team’s minds. With perfect conditions to assist the attempt the squad set about leap-frogging the teams starting ahead of them and had to dig dip on the final, rolling section between Crudgington to Edgmond. Watts stated: “I’m really pleased to take the record. The team worked well together with no skipped turns or miscommunication. We had a few hold-ups but stayed on target and pushed hard for the finish to get in at 30mph. A good event including a good post race social and plenty of sunshine made for an awesome day“.

Garthwaite had the distinction of beating his own Event Record after being part of a strong Rhino Velo squad who set that benchmark in 2016 on a different, flatter course due to Shawbirch roundabout being out of commission. He revealed how well the squad worked together and more details about the hold-ups: “It was a pleasure to ride with the RAF guys – a great bunch. We had the course and event record as a target but were really aiming for 30mph+ average. All was going well until we were held up at Crudgington and both roundabouts. The turns became shorter and shorter but we all held it together and didn’t miss a turn. Irrigation outside Edgmond was a pleasant cooler“!

Morley meanwhile had been afraid that the squad had overcooked things early on and would pay later in the event: “A brilliant event. When we entered we had an eye on the course record, but thought the event record could be a bit too much. But conditions on the day were very good and I think we all knew that it was going to be a hard, fast 50 kilometres. We set off hard and with a bit of a tailwind got the average speed to just below 30mph by the first junction. Despite thinking we’d gone off too hard we held that speed for the rest of the event. We worked really well as a team with everyone doing good length turns and the changes were super smooth. By the finish we were totally empty, and knew we had given everything. We were all mega-chuffed to break both records, and to take some big chunks of time out of some well known and respected riders is incredible“.

Despite beating their own time by 1:52 2017’s winners Liverpool Phoenix had to be content with the runner-up spot in 2018, but had no complaints about the epic effort that beat them. The squad, comprising Toby Williams, Arthur Winstanley, Christophe Moeri and Kevin Larmer stopped the watch on 1:07:59, with the 5:32 showing the gulf to the RAF squad. Williams commented: “I enjoyed the event, well run and on a good, safe course. We had a decent ride. Happy with second, the RAF team were a class act. Top ride from them“. Winstanley added: “It’s a great event. A perfect course – excepting the Peplow pavé of course! The course is one of few that lends itself to a 4-Up with nice wide roads“.

The County’s John Farr 4-Up Trophy was successfully retained by a strong Nova Raiders ‘A’ squad, with Ed Middleton, Scott Harris, Matt Gibbons and Andy Rose improving on their 2017 mark by 50 seconds to finish together in 1:09:18. They beat off a challenge from team mates Nova Raiders ‘1’ by 1:50 to take the County Championship for the second year running, with Rose revealing how well matched the squad were: “What a fantastic event! I’m so pleased to have retained the John Farr Trophy. We worked really hard as a team, and it was the team spirit that kept me going as I had to dig really deep from the start to the finish. Many thanks to all marshals and volunteers“. Gibbons meanwhile revealed that a Championship defence was a high priority: “It was our aim to keep the Trophy with The Nova Raiders, and despite some really good competition we are delighted to have it for another year after some strong riding from the boys“.

The fact that this is a  rarely seen format always brings an air of anticipation to this event, with several riders describing the pre-race atmosphere at The Lamb at Edgmond as ‘buzzing’ and many spectators out around the course cheering the riders on, with a fine field of 27 squads in competition. Middleton concurred with these sentiments, revealing: “The 4-Up is always the highlight of The Nova Raiders’ race season and having six teams racing helped us push for the County win. Well done to the RAF/Rhino team for smashing the course record. Thanks to everyone involved in making the race happen“. Harris however indicated that they encountered a few issues around the course: “A great race with a brilliant team. I’m glad we won the Trophy on an eventful ride – a bee sting on my hand, just three gears working and a tractor at the Crudgington junction causing a delay made it more eventful than planned. Thanks to everyone for making it such a good event“.

Nova Raiders’ high level of participation in the event was only beaten by Wrekinsport, who fielded a huge seven squads and had their own John Cotton Trophy as a spur. A robust ‘A’ squad featuring Chris Halford, Rich Smith, Alistair Hatton and Dave Gostelow took the bragging rights with a fine 1:13:01, 1:49 ahead of the ‘C’ squad.

One of the features of this event is the fine level of competition amongst female teams, with a prize given for the fastest team containing at least two Women. It was a successful morning out for 2017’s winners Market Drayton Combined, comprising Sarah Grant, Alison Dockney, Mark Milton and Paul Harper as they again took the win and improved by 3:11. Grant and Dockney have made a fine pairing in the Coaching Revolutions 2-Up Series and were ecstatic to record a time of 1:16:59, making the most noise of all teams crossing the finish line after finishing 1:21 ahead of a strong Nova Raiders Ladies squad. Grant stated: “I was thrilled with the win, many thanks to my awesome team mates for all their hard work! A great event with a fantastic atmosphere“. Dockney added: “What a super day – I really enjoyed the atmosphere at The Lamb and I’m very happy with our result.  Many thanks to all involved with organising, hosting and marshalling the event and to my fabulous Market Drayton CC combined team mates“!

For Harper and Milton this was their first time competing in the format after a team change around, with Harper pleased with the teamwork on show: “Thanks for arranging a great event. It was really well organised and marshalled, with the bonus of a refreshing field sprinkler for the final push to the finish line! From a race point of view, from our normal group of stray cats that form Market Drayton CC we pulled together a team of similar abilities and shared the pacing really well – who knew we could be organised”! Milton added: “Thanks for organising a fabulous time trial event. And thanks to those who helped. I had a fantastic time and look forward to participating in more events“.

Result:

Photos courtesy of Nigel "Biggles" Brunton