SCCA Spring 10 No.1 – Dave Fanning Memorial

The opening round of the SB Sports Injuries Series saw riders having to battle a roaring block headwind between Waters Upton and Hodnet but gaining a huge push back as blustery conditions made things tricky for competitors in Shropshire first Spring 10, The Dave Fanning Memorial. Reigning Champion Tomos Hales set out his defence from the front with a solid win of 56 seconds over visiting rider Andrew Daniel of Worcester St Johns CC, with this early season event attracting a number of racers from outside Shropshire with limited options elsewhere.

Newly signed for Aerologic RT, Hales stopped the watch on 21 minutes 32 seconds, battling with the bike as unpredictable gusts caught his deep section wheels which required rapid adjustment to compensate. Add chilly conditions to the mix and the only saving grace was the predicted showers failed to materialise. Hales stated: “Very challenging conditions for the opening 10 mile time trial for the SB Series. There was a gusting cross headwind in several sections, and I felt it on my wheel at least three times. After a winter off the time trial bike it was a challenging start, however, the return leg was very quick and I was happy with my time in good conditions. Thanks to Propel for putting on the event – it was well organised as always from them”.

Davies took third spot overall in 22:41, 13 seconds behind Daniel; but when the age-related standards had been applied he finished three seconds ahead of the same rider to win the Veterans category in +4:10. This was Davies’ first race of the season, and he was left contemplating the character building effort required to punch through: “Well, I wanted to get the first race out of the way to blow away the cobwebs, and I certainly got that! It was good to be back racing, but the wind was definitely tricky going out, especially with a deep section front wheel. But on the upside, it was great coming back! I got held up on the out leg; I had to sit up behind a car, but pretty happy with the time considering. I was happy to take third overall and 1st Veteran, a good start to the season. Thanks to all at Propel for a well organised event”.

Davies’ Hafren CC club mate and namesake Jan Davies captured the female win by a fine margin of 1:56 over Paramount CRT’s Evie Fletcher, crossing the line in 26:43; and like other’s comments made mention of the game of two halves, with huge effort needed to get to Hodnet being compensated by being bowled back: “First time trial of the year for me, and it certainly didn’t ease me in gently. A solid block headwind on the way out made for a tough opening leg. It was very much a case of holding form and keeping the effort under control. Thankfully, the return leg told a different story. The tailwind on the way back was a welcome reward, allowing for some real speed and making the earlier battle feel worthwhile. It was a course of two halves: gritty on the way out, fast and flowing on the way home. Great to be back racing the time trial bike again, blowing away the cobwebs and getting the first effort of the season in the legs”.

Richard Simpson only rode two end-of-season SB events in 2025, both gaining him maximum points in the Road Bike category; and this year he looks to be settling his stall out early as he took another maximum 20 points, only missing out on the overall win by eight seconds thanks to another visiting rider, Phil Land of Velo 6 Racing. Simpson’s adjusted time in this handicap category was 23:46, and the North Shropshire Wheeler pushed another newly signed Aerologic rider, George Coombes, out by 10 seconds. Simpson had mixed feelings about his efforts however, commenting: “Very pleased to have done enough to secure maximum points in the Road Bike category but a very sub-par performance from me being 1:20 down on my last run on this course. I was so cold it took me until just before the turn to really get going and, while the headwind was hard work, the westerly gusts blowing the bike all over the place were harder to deal with. Fingers crossed for better conditions next time as I really like this course”.

Full:

Veterans:

Females:

Road Bikes: