R8 SB Sports Injuries Series: North Shropshire Wheelers Hawkstone Hilly 19

Chris Riley moved back into the lead of the SB Sports Injuries Series following Round 8, the North Shropshire Wheelers Hawkstone Hilly 19 after a fabulous battle with Paramount team mate Mitchell Fletcher. Held over two laps of one of the club’s 10 mile circuits, Riley was down at the end of lap 1 by 21 seconds, but wound things up on the second lap to take the win by 14 seconds in 48 minutes 26 seconds after taking things steady and building into the race. Riley was deposed by reigning SB Series Champion Tomos Hales after Round 7, but retook the lead by 16 points on a circuit he has been aching to try out for a long time, as he explained: “I’ve missed out on this one for the last five years, but finally got a clear run. It was certainly worth the wait, and it’s such a great course. The football clearly impacted the numbers on the night, but that was to my advantage. I rolled round the first lap waiting for Mitchell to be breathing down my neck, but on lap two I opened up the valves and thoroughly enjoyed the tailwind assist through Weston and on to the finish – thanks to North Shropshire Wheelers for such a gem of a race“. Riley wasn’t finished there either as he also took the SB Veterans win with +4:19 ahead of Richard Simpson in +2:31; and now holds a commanding 80 point advantage.

Fletcher didn’t have a bad evening either, as he had the carrot of wife Evie to chase and lifted himself up to joint second in the Series as a result of his 48:40 effort. Having done an Ironman triathlon shortly before that’s not the best preparation as it can cause heavy legs, but this was a race in Fletcher’s eye line that wasn’t going to be passed by: “Coming into this race, I wasn’t sure how I would feel; my second race back from Ironman Hamburg, and with not much training due to a recovery focus. Nevertheless, this is a great course, and North Shropshire Wheelers always put on a great event, so I wanted to ride. The first lap went well, but the lack of training showed with power tailing off in the second lap to see me ultimately come second behind club mate Chris. Chris is an experienced, strong rider, and always a great motivator for me, so always great to line up next to my team mate at these events. Next time I just need to reign in my excitement chasing my wife, Evie“!

Evie was also a little jaded from the same Ironman experience, but still managed to take the SB Female win in 55:48, 4:35 ahead of Kathryn Rossiter to move up to 12 points off Hayley Wells’ lead. She commented: “Similar to Mitch, this was actually my first time trial back following Ironman Hamburg. North Shropshire Wheelers were very welcoming last year and really got me into the local time trials, so it was nice to return, see some familiar faces and race an excellently hosted event. The actual race went well and I hit the power numbers I wanted, so very pleased to be the first female across the line – thanks again North Shropshire Wheelers“.

One rider looking to make up lost ground was Richard Simpson, finally adding points to his SB Road Bike Series lead after failing to score any in the previous two rounds. Simpson registered a handicap 47:24 to take the maximum 20 points on offer ahead of North Shropshire Wheelers’ team mate Les Boughey, 6:20 back, and now holds a 58 point lead. A relieved Simpson commented: “I hadn’t ridden the two lap Hilly 19 before, but had done the single lap 10 quite a few times so I knew what to expect, and paced it well. Really pleased with my performance, especially as I felt I was going equally well in my last two frustrating DNFs. It was one of those nights where, bizarrely, fast didn’t feel hard or l wasn’t trying hard enough! I really enjoyed that one“.

Full:

Veterans:

Females:

Road Bikes:

Cumulative Standings after eight rounds

Overall

Veterans

Females

Road Bike

Juniors