Shropshire Cycling Clubs Association Spring 10 No.2

Round 2 of the SB Sports Injuries Series saw a return to the Waters Upton – Hodnet 10 mile course, the flattest in Shropshire as Tomos Hales knocked 42 seconds off his Round 1 effort to take the win and move to the head of the SB Standings after posting a solid 21 minute 19 second effort. The reigning Series Champion opened up a 14 point lead at the top of the standings with a solid win in wind conditions which weren’t much better than in Round 1, tempered by the sun warming things up, with a testing cross-headwind to fight against on the return. Judging this type of ‘game of two halves can be tricky – as Hales attested: “I do enjoy the Hodnet 10 Mile time trial, but the challenging cross wind made it difficult. I went out a little too hard and paid for it on the return. I’m hoping to get closer to sub-21 in Round 3. Thanks Wrekinsport for hosting, it was great to be out racing in the sun”.

Hales’ nearest challenges came from a brace of Aerologic RT riders, with Mark Pritchard grabbing the runners-up spot in 21:57 and team mate Jonathan Mills-Keeling a further eight seconds back. For Pritchard this was his first appearance of the season, and he was surprised how well his race went, stating: “Happy with second place, I wasn’t expecting too much as just wanted to try a few of the new bit of gear I had ready for this season – thanks to everyone for marshalling and organising”.

Mills-Keeling was making his first 2025 appearance in the SB Series and took the final podium spot with a fine 22:05, 37 seconds ahead of Hafren’s Bryn Davies; along with the Veterans win with +4:46, 17 seconds ahead of Oswestry Paragon’s Clive Bourne, who moved up to the head of the Veteran’s standing on the strength of his runner-up spot. Mills-Keeling’s post-race comments showed the difficulty of conditions: “Great to be racing again. A tough crosswind, but happy with my first 10 of the year, top rides from Tomos and Mark – thanks to everyone for putting on the racing”.

In the Female competition it was two wins out of two for reigning Female SB Champion Hayley Wells, who knocked 44 seconds off her Round 1 effort with 23:26, which took a strong 6^th place overall – and revealing a hitherto unknown issue: “After a disappointing time by my standards in Round 1 due to a slow puncture, I was pleased to be back on track this week. The crosswinds made for a very different ride but always add to the challenge – many thanks to Wrekinsport”.

Wells’ Wrekinsport team mate Rich Smith has decided that his 2025 season will exclusively be raced on a Road Bike, the ‘in vogue’ form of racing currently, and he wasted no time in making an unexpected immediate impact with a maiden win in the Road Bike category with an actual 25:41, which when the handicap was applied reduced to 24:21, a 2:09 advantage over Mark Fenn. Smith commented: “My first time doing a 10 on a road bike, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I was very happy to get a result. You get an extra minute’s suffering, so excellent value for money for sure! It was a lovely sunny day, and great to catch up with the time trial community – thanks to SCCA and Wrekinsport for organising”.

Result:

Veterans

Females:

Road Bikes:

Cumulative Standings after two rounds

Overall

Veterans

Females

Road Bike