Marches CC 10

A brand new Rhino Velo pairing took the honours in a brand new event as Marches CC promoted their first ever time trial – although things didn’t go as planned for two winning teams. Kirk Vickers and Dave Scott suffered for the overall win on the Queen’s Head – Gobowen course with their race plan thrown out early on. The pair flew around in 21 minutes 25 seconds despite those issues, with Scot explaining: “Drafting behind a time trial bike in a tailwind on a road bike was a learning experience, and the negative split plan went out the window. I was happy with the win after clinging on in a huge amount of pain on the return leg“. Vickers added: “The race didn’t go as planned, so I was quite pleased we won in the end. I wouldn’t advise partnering a time trial bike with a road bike though“!

This paring came as a surprise to Round 2 winners Matt Gibbons and Rich Nickless, who nevertheless took over the lead of the series by a narrow margin of two points from a clutch of Hafren CC riders, Pete Thomas and Bryn Davies; and Elwyn Turner and Andy Griffiths. The Nova Raiders team finished runners-up 24 seconds off the pace of Scott and Vickers, with Nickless revealing he had a rare off day, stating: “Another solid performance from us. Matt pulled us for the most part as I was under par on the day. A great course, congratulations to the Rhino Velo lads“. Gibbons was also full of praise for Scott and Vickers’ performance, adding: “It was nice to get back with a good result after missing last week. We needed it as the Hafren teams are on our heels. Well done to the Rhino Velo guys on the win“.

With Davies racing elsewhere Thomas partnered with another Hafren rider, Ian Coe to take third spot in 22:50, whilst Turner and Griffiths settled for 5th in 24:20, with a further Hafren pair Mark Hill and Neil Vose grabbing 4th with 23:22 in a competition both Hafren CC and Nova Raiders have thrown themselves into.

Reigning Women’s Champions Jenny Newton and Jane Chapman also represent Nova Raiders and they scored their second personal best in as many weeks in a strong defence of that Championship. Newton and Chapman are now showing the dividends of understanding each others’ style and took the Women’s Team win in 26:13 from Liz White and Hil Pontefract in 29:56. Newton commented: “We both found the return tough, but worked well together. Another personal best and great fun as always“! Chapman agreed, adding: “Another great race, Jenny and I are working well as a team. Thanks to all the organisers“.

If Scott and Vickers had a minor disaster on the course Helen Pritchard and Simon Lewis had one pre-race after missing their start and taking a 42 second penalty as a result – not that that stopped them taking the Mixed Team win. The SY Tri pairing finished in an adjusted 26:28, with Pritchard revealing: “Having missed the start by 42 seconds we decided to race anyway not expecting to do very well.  So we were very pleasantly surprised to have won the Mixed Team“. Meanwhile moving to the top of the Mixed Team standings was another Nova Raiders squad, with Craig Howells and Rachel Storey ending the afternoon on 27:43, a three second improvement on their first ever pairing in Round 2. Howells revealed this well-matched pair are also finding each others strengths, stating: “Rachel and I are working well together. It’s a great course and well organised“. Storey concurred, adding: “A well organised and safe course. Thanks go to the marshals and Craig“.

Result:

Tandem:

Mixed Team:

Women’s Team:

Cumulative Standings after three rounds

Overall

Mixed Team

Women’s Team

• Round 4 of the Coaching Revolutions 2-Up Series takes place on 26th May when Oswestry Paragon CC promote their 10 mile event again on the Queen’s Head – Gobowen course.