The Blue Riband event of Shropshire time trialling saw some great performances in difficult conditions which saw a third of the entrants elect not to start; a unique feat registered for a female; and a Friction Series Championship sealed after Round 13; the Ride Fast Coaching Shropshire Championship 25. As the mercury hit 34ºC, organiser Helen Tudor had a difficult decision whether to postpone with events being pulled elsewhere earlier in the week; but the consensus reached was for riders to make their own call whether to race or not.
Tomos Hales last won the Freeston Trophy in 2023, and was the Silver medallist in 2024 and 2025, but he finally recaptured Gold with a 53 minute 20 second effort – telling on the fastest 25 mile course in the area as the heat bore down, with Hales normally easily capable of faster. His post-race comments bore the difficulties out: “I do love the SCCA Championship 25 mile course; however tough conditions made it very challenging. I had a great out leg, however, with the slower and tougher return I struggled to cool myself down, and it was a more about managing the load to get round. I’m super happy to take the Shropshire 25 title; thanks to Helen for getting us an event on with tough external pressures. Was great to just allow racers to race even in the hot temperatures added an extra challenge to the event. The cake provide after was worth the extra effort”.
Hales also took Team Gold with a great team effort from Aerologic RT, winning this contest in a combined 2:52:22, 2:53 ahead of a strong Paramount CRT triplet thanks to strong backup from Hayley Wells and George Coombes. Wells headed into the sole lead of the overall Friction Series by 20 points in a first-ever feat for a female, clearly showing her strength, sealed the Friction Female Series thanks to the 60 points added in this contest to give her a fabulous and unbeatable 325 point lead; and take Female 25 Gold and the Brian and Gill Morrison Trophy in 57:34 despite just one stutter: turning too early at an island and having to make a rapid reversal rather than end up in a Tesco car park: “A rather warm evening meant tactics shifted to staying as cool as possible before starting. The strategy seemed to be effective for the first half; then things quickly changed! I was aiming to stay in control and not overheat, so I backed off the power a little, crossing the line with nothing left in the tank. Dispite a minor navigational error, a ride I’m very happy with, and chuffed to have retained the 25 Championship title. Awesome riding from everyone, and many thanks to Helen for a superb event dispite the heat, the marshals for enduring the heat, and not forgetting the delicious cake and much needed water at the finish line”!
Turning to retaining the Friction Female Series she added: “The Friction Series is always one I look forward to, with such a great variety of courses that test both rider and machine throughout the season. I’m really grateful to have been able to race as much as I have this year, and it’s a privilege to be in that position. To retain the Female Trophy is something I’m very proud of, but it wouldn’t be possible without all the organisers, volunteers and everyone working behind the scenes. The time and effort that goes into making racing happen is hugely appreciated, and certainly doesn’t go unnoticed”.
The third counting rider, George Coombes, felt that the heat dulled his performance despite recording a fine 1:01:28 on a Road Bike, and he appeared just pleased to finish at all and very complementary about his team mates, stating: “Tomos and Hayley were absolutely superb on the day for the team. My performance on the other hand left a lot to be desired. Honestly, I wilted in the heat, and was miles off my target and just survived to the end. Fortunately, Tomos and Hayley were able to win overall for the team with great rides in the heat and bank the points”!
A rider clearly on the up, Oli Freeman, has been quietly lowering personal bests all season; and here set another one of 54:51 to take 25 Silver. The Wrekinsport rider has learnt a lot in only his second season of racing, and dug deep to batter his way through the heat, commenting: “This was my first outing on this course, and it was a tough ride on the hottest day of the year! I was really pleased with my pacing and effort to set a new 25 personal best and take SCCA 25 mile Silver – huge thanks to the organisers and volunteers for running the event in difficult conditions”.
Freeman’s closest challenge came from Rob McGregor, 35 seconds behind, and who beat Jonathan Whittaker by 30 seconds to take 25 Bronze. McGregor has had a tremendous season in the Mower Mec 2-Up Series, and put that form to good use in an event he has missed for a while: “It was great to return to the D25/24R course where I did my first 25 mile time trial in 2022, but for a variety of reasons I hadn’t raced since. I was 3:10 quicker this time and earned my first Open event podium and Bronze in the SCCA 25 Championship, which showed the progress that I’ve made in the past four years. It was a hot and humid evening, and it all came down to managing that. I think I cope better with the heat than I do in the cold, but I really appreciated Mum and Dad supporting with cold drinks and ice. I really enjoyed the atmosphere afterwards; I have some great memories of time spent with friends and family. Thank you to everyone who helped to make the event possible”.
Hales and Wells weren’t the only riders sealing multiple medals as Dave Scott Coaching’s Stuart Proctor won Gold in both the Friction Veterans and Road Bike 25 Championships. Proctor scored a Veteran’s Standard +9:31 to see of the challenge of Veterans Series leader Chris Riley in +8:42 and Hafren CC’s Mark Hill in +8:31. Whilst finishing behind Paul Duncan on Actual, when the age-related handicapping system was applied he took Road Bike Gold in an adjusted 56:29, with Duncan on 57:35 taking Silver. Proctor was delighted with his evening’s work, stating: “Wow, what a scorcher! Temperatures were oppressive enough even before getting on the bike. I was held up briefly at the start by traffic, but felt good once I got going. One of those evenings where the wind direction seems to defy the forecast, so it was difficult to know where there was any benefit. The heat made progress on the return leg difficult; I even had to take a drink at a couple of points, and was super happy to cross the line. Great organising’ especially the post-finish water; and fabulous marshals. I was over the moon to grab Veterans & Road Bike Golds – many thanks to all”.
Riley maintains a dominant 265 point lead in the Friction Veterans Series and was another rider happy to have just crossed the finish line whilst taking Silver, commenting: “What a very hot ride that was. I thought I’d go well, but it was a complete meltdown. By two-thirds distance I was fighting to keep any semblance of speed. A medal off the back of that goes to show I wasn’t the only one who suffered. Congratulations to everyone who flourished in the heat; and thank you to all the helpers from the different clubs who turned out to make this a memorable Championship race”.
Duncan scored a personal best with his Actual 58:43, and like many rider suffered for his sport on a character-building evening. Red hot conditions are favourable for personal best setting, and Duncan certainly benefited as he took Road Bike Silver in an age-adjusted 57:35, stating: ”I was really pleased to get the fastest Road Bike time, resulting in age adjusted Silver. The heat made the return leg very challenging, with performance dependent on who could cope best, and I managed to hang on for the last five miles resulting in a road bike personal best for a 25. Excellent encouragement from the marshals during the race, and lovely cake afterwards”!
Duncan’s closest challenge came from North Shropshire Wheelers’ Richard Simpson in 58:14 to capture Road Bike Bronze, and whose post-race comments left no doubt the war of attrition the sun meted out: “That was the hardest ride I’ve ever done, the heat was incredible, so much so that I’d dispensed with all the normal time trial clothing and was riding in normal road gear. Despite the heat and three delays at roundabouts I managed to ride at well above personal best pace which I was delighted with, and can only speculate how much better it would have been without the delays. I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone else who turned up to compete; and all the officials for making this such a great event on a really tough night”.
With Wells in such dominant form the final two medals of the evening were in the Female category, with Jan Davies capturing Silver in 1:09:30 and race organiser Helen Tudor taking the Bronze with 1:12:55. Davies’ comments were complementary towards Wells, stating “I’m really pleased to have finished as SCCA 25 Championship Female Silver. Congratulations to Hayley on a well-deserved Championship win”. This left the final word to Tudor, who explained the reasons behind the decision to get the race on: “A really tough call as an organiser whether to go ahead or not given the 34ºC temperature forecast; but I love this course, and would have been gutted not to let riders make their own minds up on riding – big thank you to the marshals who stood out there; and to Robert Rees with his bottles of water at the end. I died horribly from the final roundabout, but was pleased to improve on my previous 25 this year”.
SCCA:
| Pos’n | Forename | Surname | Club | Cat | Machine | Time | Points |
| 1 | Tomos | Hales | Aerologic RT | S | TT | 53:20 | 60 |
| 2 | Oli | Freeman | Wrekinsport CC | S | TT | 54:51 | 55 |
| 3 | Robert | McGregor | Paramount CRT | S | TT | 55:26 | 50 |
| 4 | Jonathan | Whittaker | SCCA Private Member | S | TT | 55:56 | 45 |
| 5 | Hayley | Wells | Aerologic RT | F | TT | 57:34 | 40 |
| 6 | Paul | Duncan | Paramount CRT | V | RB | 58:43 | 35 |
| 7 | Stuart | Proctor | Dave Scott Coaching | V | RB | 1:00:37 | 30 |
| 8 | Christopher | Riley | Paramount CRT | V | TT | 1:01:06 | 25 |
| 9 | Mark | Hill | Hafren CC | V | TT | 1:01:17 | 20 |
| 10 | George | Coombes | Aerologic RT | S | RB | 1:01:28 | 15 |
| 11 | William | Preston | Paramount CRT | S | RB | 1:01:30 | 10 |
| 12 | Richard | Simpson | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | RB | 1:02:43 | 5 |
| 13 | Adam | Mumford | Wrekinsport CC | S | TT | 1:04:50 | 5 |
| 14 | Philip | Gardner | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | V | TT | 1:06:09 | 5 |
| 15 | Andrew | Dawson | Paramount CRT | V | RB | 1:06:27 | 5 |
| 16 | Matthew | Price | Wrekinsport CC | V | RB | 1:07:04 | 5 |
| 17 | Jan | Davies | Hafren CC | FV | TT | 1:09:30 | 5 |
| 18 | Helen | Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | FV | TT | 1:12:55 | 5 |
| 19 | Colin | Wells | Paramount CRT | V | TT | 1:13:52 | 5 |
| 20 | Ashley | Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | V | TT | 1:20:39 | 5 |
| 21 | Gill | Snelson | Paramount CRT | FV | RB | 1:20:51 | 5 |
| 22 | John | Westhead | Paramount CRT | V | TT | 1:34:07 | 5 |
| . | Les | Boughey | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | TT | DNS | . |
| . | Dean | Callister | Aerologic RT | S | TT | DNS | . |
| . | Phil | Collins | Aerologic RT | V | TT | DNS | . |
| . | Bryn | Davies | Hafren CC | V | TT | DNS | . |
| . | James | Elgar | Paramount CRT | V | TT | DNS | . |
| . | Jonathan | Goh | Paramount CRT | V | RB | DNS | . |
| . | Nick | Hickman | Paramount CRT | V | RB | DNS | . |
| . | Clive | Middleton | Aerologic RT | V | TT | DNS | . |
| . | Laura | Sheppard | SCCA Private Member | F | RB | DNS | . |
| . | Daniel | Watts | SCCA Private Member | S | TT | DNS | . |
| . | David | Wilson | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | TT | DNS | . |
Team Gold:
Aerologic RT (Tomos Hales / Hayley Wells / George Coombes) 2:52:22
Veterans:
| Vet Pos’n | Forename | Surname | Club | Cat | Machine | Vet +/- | Vets Points |
| 1 | Stuart | Proctor | Dave Scott Coaching | V | RB | +9:31 | 60 |
| 2 | Christopher | Riley | Paramount CRT | V | TT | +8:42 | 55 |
| 3 | Mark | Hill | Hafren CC | V | TT | +8:31 | 50 |
| 4 | Paul | Duncan | Paramount CRT | V | RB | +8:25 | 45 |
| 5 | Richard | Simpson | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | RB | +7:46 | 40 |
| 6 | Andrew | Dawson | Paramount CRT | V | RB | +4:25 | 35 |
| 7 | Jan | Davies | Hafren CC | FV | TT | +3:50 | 30 |
| 8 | Philip | Gardner | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | V | TT | +3:39 | 25 |
| 9 | Helen | Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | FV | TT | +1:31 | 20 |
| 10 | Matthew | Price | Wrekinsport CC | V | RB | +1:30 | 15 |
| 11 | Colin | Wells | Paramount CRT | V | TT | -0:26 | 10 |
| 12 | Gill | Snelson | Paramount CRT | FV | RB | -7:31 | 5 |
| 13 | Ashley | Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | V | TT | -13:19 | 5 |
| 14 | John | Westhead | Paramount CRT | V | TT | -19:41 | 5 |
Females:
| Female Pos’n | Forename | Surname | Club | Cat | Machine | Time | Female Points |
| 1 | Hayley | Wells | Aerologic RT | F | TT | 57:34 | 60 |
| 2 | Jan | Davies | Hafren CC | FV | TT | 1:09:30 | 55 |
| 3 | Helen | Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | FV | TT | 1:12:55 | 50 |
| 4 | Gill | Snelson | Paramount CRT | FV | RB | 1:20:51 | 45 |
| . | Laura | Sheppard | SCCA Private Member | F | RB | DNS | . |
Road Bikes (on handicap):
| RB Pos’n | Forename | Surname | Club | Cat | Machine | Age Adj Time | RB Points |
| 1 | Stuart | Proctor | Dave Scott Coaching | V | RB | 56:29 | 60 |
| 2 | Paul | Duncan | Paramount CRT | V | RB | 57:35 | 55 |
| 3 | Richard | Simpson | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | RB | 58:14 | 50 |
| 4 | George | Coombes | Aerologic RT | S | RB | 1:01:28 | 45 |
| 5 | William | Preston | Paramount CRT | S | RB | 1:01:30 | 40 |
| 6 | Andrew | Dawson | Paramount CRT | V | RB | 1:01:35 | 35 |
| 7 | Matthew | Price | Wrekinsport CC | V | RB | 1:04:30 | 30 |
| 8 | Gill | Snelson | Paramount CRT | FV | RB | 1:13:31 | 25 |
Top Club Award:
| Pos’n | Club | Points |
| 1 | Paramount CRT | 295 |
| 2 | Aerologic RT | 165 |
| 3 | Hafren CC | 105 |
| 4 | Wrekinsport CC | 95 |
| 5 | Dave Scott Coaching | 60 |
| =6 | North Shropshire Wheelers | 50 |
| =6 | Oswestry Paragon CC | 50 |
| 8 | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | 25 |
Cumulative Standing after thirteen rounds
Overall
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Hayley Wells | Aerologic RT | F | 500 |
| 2 | Christopher Riley | Paramount CRT | V | 480 |
| 3 | Tomos Hales | Aerologic RT | S | 415 |
| 4 | Robert McGregor | Paramount CRT | S | 405 |
| =5 | Jonathan Goh | Paramount CRT | V | 230 |
| =5 | Oli Freeman | Wrekinsport CC | S | 230 |
| =5 | Simon Romei | Paramount CRT | V | 230 |
| 8 | Stuart Proctor | Dave Scott Coaching | V | 210 |
| 9 | Paul Duncan | Paramount CRT | V | 205 |
| =10 | Kirk Vickers | Holohan Coaching Race Team | S | 180 |
| =10 | Phil Collins | Aerologic RT | V | 180 |
Veterans
| Vets Position | Name | Club | Best 12 |
| 1 | Christopher Riley | Paramount CRT | 700 |
| 2 | Stuart Proctor | Dave Scott Coaching | 435 |
| 3 | John Westhead | Paramount CRT | 315 |
| 4 | Andrew Dawson | Paramount CRT | 310 |
| 5 | Paul Duncan | Paramount CRT | 295 |
| 6 | Jonathan Goh | Paramount CRT | 280 |
| =7 | Philip Gardner | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | 270 |
| =7 | Simon Romei | Paramount CRT | 270 |
| 9 | Phil Collins | Aerologic RT | 190 |
| 10 | Thea Osmund-Smith | Paramount CRT | 180 |
Females
| Female Pos’n | Name | Club | Best 12 |
| 1 | Hayley Wells | Aerologic RT | 690 |
| 2 | Thea Osmund-Smith | Paramount CRT | 325 |
| 3 | Kathryn Rossiter | North Shropshire Wheelers | 270 |
| 4 | Helen Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | 260 |
| 5 | Elaine Beckett | North Shropshire Wheelers | 225 |
| 6 | Gill Snelson | Paramount CRT | 140 |
| 7 | Evie Fletcher | Paramount CRT | 130 |
| 8 | Claire Blackwell-Smyth | Paramount CRT | 100 |
| 9 | Rebecca Pugh | Paramount CRT | 85 |
| 10 | Sophie Edge | Dave Scott Coaching | 60 |
Road Bikes
| Road Bike Pos’n | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Andrew Dawson | Paramount CRT | V | 485 |
| 2 | Stuart Proctor | Dave Scott Coaching | V | 470 |
| 3 | Jonathan Goh | Paramount CRT | V | 430 |
| 4 | Paul Duncan | Paramount CRT | V | 350 |
| 5 | Richard Simpson | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | 195 |
| 6 | David Scott | Dave Scott Coaching | S | 155 |
| 7 | William Preston | Paramount CRT | S | 125 |
| 8 | Thea Osmund-Smith | Paramount CRT | FV | 105 |
| =9 | George Coombes | Aerologic RT | S | 100 |
| =9 | Mark Fenn | Shropshire CCA | V | 100 |
| =9 | Matthew Price | Wrekinsport CC | V | 100 |
Juniors
| Junior Pos’n | Name | Club | Best 12 |
| 1 | Taliesin Goh | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | 60 |
Top Club Award
| Position | Club | Total Points |
| 1 | Paramount CRT | 4500 |
| 2 | Aerologic RT | 1835 |
| 3 | North Shropshire Wheelers | 1400 |
| 4 | Dave Scott Coaching | 935 |
| 5 | Wrekinsport CC | 705 |
| 6 | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | 440 |
| 7 | Hafren CC | 350 |
| 8 | Oswestry Paragon CC | 320 |
| 9 | Holohan Coaching Race Team | 275 |
| 10 | Bridgnorth Cycling Club | 230 |
| 11 | Ludlow CC | 195 |
| 12 | Market Drayton Cycling Club | 60 |
| 13 | Propel Cycling Club | 30 |
| 14 | Newport (Shropshire) CC | 20 |