This event was on the F2D/10, and had a full field, with 17 women and two mixed tandems. The women all started as a block near the start of the event. NBRC had three riders on the startsheet: David Price and Debbie Vanner had also entered, though David DNS’d due to a bad cold. I went over with Katja, who was to start some 77 minutes before me.
It was a bit breezy with a stiff breeze that made the outbound leg much quicker than the return. To add insult to injury, the middle of the field were caught in a nasty rain squall with significantly tougher wind. I could barely steer the bike while warming up. Fortunately the A428 has decently high embankments either side which offer some shelter. I had a clear run through, particularly at the turn, which is really quite good - you can see it on the Garmin trace. The only traffic issues were right after the start - you head west on the old A428 and turn sharp left at the roundabout to go down the sliproad to the A428. There was a learner driver being quite cautious, with a lorry and another car behind them. I don’t suppose it caused too much delay, but it always feels like it does. And no doubt the learner driver was being a bit anxious about all the TT bikes wobbling around.
As expected, the outbound leg was really quick, and the return a fair bit slower. The trispoke was a bit of a handful at times with the headwind on the return leg. The finish is a bit annoying, because you have to go up the sliproad, turn left at a RAB and finish a little way down the road. Last time I rode this course I got stopped at the RAB in a big gear - this year I had no trouble.
I was tied in 18th place with 22:18 judging from the provisional results posted online. Debbie finished in 26:26. Katja won the women’s prize with 23:19, 38th place overall.
Here are the top 20 finishers:
| Pos. |
Name |
No. |
Club |
Time |
| 1 |
Simon Norman |
110 |
Bedfordshire Road CC |
00:20:02 |
| 2 |
John Mulvey |
101 |
Cambridge University CC |
00:20:32 |
| 3 |
David McGaw |
90 |
Cambridge CC |
00:20:34 |
| 4 |
Carl Whitwell |
100 |
St Ives CC |
00:20:37 |
| 5 |
Tom Trimble |
70 |
CC Ashwell |
00:20:44 |
| 6 |
John Gull |
71 |
Expresso Library |
00:20:46 |
| 7 |
Oliver Milk |
25 |
Tri-Anglia Triathlon Club |
00:20:57 |
| 8 |
Matthew Eley |
115 |
Ely & District CC |
00:21:16 |
| 9 |
William Smith |
60 |
CC Ashwell |
00:21:29 |
| 10 |
Ken Platts |
105 |
Cambridge CC |
00:21:38 |
| 11 |
Andy Whale |
65 |
CC Ashwell |
00:21:41 |
| 12 |
Ian Short |
112 |
API - Metrow |
00:21:47 |
| 13 |
Matt Meek |
72 |
Cambridge University CC |
00:21:48 |
| 14 |
Neil Wood |
102 |
Did Deep Coaching |
00:21:53 |
| 15 |
Rory Havis |
85 |
St Ives CC |
00:22:00 |
| 16 |
Tim Davies |
75 |
Icknield RC |
00:22:10 |
| 17 |
Hugo Hocknell |
106 |
Team Salesengine.co.uk |
00:22:14 |
| 18 |
Andrew Grant |
27 |
Cambridge CC |
00:22:18 |
| 19 |
Robert Saunders |
97 |
North Bucks RC |
00:22:18 |
| 20 |
Keith Dorling |
77 |
Team Bottrill |
00:22:26 |