The organiser of this event had a bit of a torrid time. The original course was an interesting one, seemingly two and a half laps of the Astwood circuit (as features frequently in this blog). Sadly, roadworks on that course necessitated a course switch to a course based on the Brogborough course*. There was also a second event, a 10 mile one. I had entered because the Astwood course would be good preparation for the upcoming Duo Normand, so I was disappointed in this turn of events. It also meant that the startsheet was the longest and most complicated I can recall, seeing as it was prepared with both courses in mind, and had to describe the route to and from each course from the HQ (Cranfield Village Hall). It ran to an alarming 15 pages!
The revised 25 mile course started at the usual 10 start at the top of Brogborough hill. It proceeded across the Marston Moretaine roundabout to the Wootton RAB (the 10 mile turn), then we were routed over the flyover to a loop running through Wootton to the Marston Moretaine RAB, back to the far turn, another loop through Wootton, back to the far turn, then returning via the Marston Moretaine RAB to finish down the quaintly named Sheeptick lane.
Actually, this was less complicated than it sounds, but I found the loop section quite tough due to a pretty rough and potholed surface. The second time round was a bit easier. Overall, the rising wind was a bit annoying, and only helped in the last 5 miles or so. Also there were about 15 roundabout passages, and on quite a few of these I got held up!
In the end, I finished in 1:00:15. Not too great, but still it was a race!
*Annoyingly, about an hour after we were notified of the course change, the lights were taken away!
| Pos | Actual | VTTA Std | Plus/Minus | Std Pos | No | Title | Name | Club | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| * 1 | 56:49 | 1:08:13 | 11:24 | * 1 | 10 | Mr | Dave Dent | Wightlink/Offshore RT | 51 |
| * 2 | 57:39 | 20 | Mr | Steve Wright | Didcot Phoenix CC | 31 | |||
| * 3 | 59:38 | 5 | Mr | Cameron Foster | Club Corley Cycles | 21 | |||
| * 4 | 1:00:02 | 1:09:34 | 09:31 | * 2 | 17 | Mr | Trevor Hook | Team Milton Keynes | 57 |
| * 5 | 1:00:15 | 1:08:52 | 08:37 | * 3 | 16 | Dr | Robert Saunders | North Bucks RC | 54 |
| * 6 | 1:00:21 | 18 | Mr | Alistair Gurney | Cycling Club Hackney | 31 | |||
| * 7 | 1:01:18 | 1:07:03 | 05:45 | * 4 | 25 | Mr | Alan Crane | Chronos RT | 45 |
| * 8 | 1:02:18 | 1:07:38 | 05:20 | * 6 | 11 | Mr | Anthony Newland | Bossard Whs | 48 |
| * 9 | 1:02:53 | 1:07:38 | 04:45 | * 8 | 7 | Mr | Tim Butt | Banbury Star CC | 48 |
| * 10 | 1:03:25 | 1:08:52 | 05:27 | * 5 | 2 | Mr | Roger Foster | Club Corley Cycles | 54 |
| * 11 | 1:04:43 | 1:09:34 | 04:50 | * 7 | 12 | Mr | Andrew Smith | Team Milton Keynes | 57 |
| * 12 | 1:08:37 | 1:06:25 | -2:11 | * 8 | 24 | Mr | John Deal | Rugby Velo | 42 |
| * 13 | 1:09:39 | 13 | Mr | Kamran Ezel | Southgate CC | 31 | |||
| * 14 | 1:10:16 | 9 | Miss | Sian Edwards (W) | Kettering Amateur CC | 25 | |||
| * 15 | 1:12:19 | 1:09:05 | -3:14 | * 9 | 8 | Mr | Trevor Watson | Bossard Whs | 55 |
| * 16 | 1:12:26 | 4 | Mr | Christopher Wayman | Bicester Millennium CC | 31 | |||
| * 17 | 1:16:56 | 1:13:37 | -3:19 | * 10 | 14 | Mr | John Hassall | Bossard Whs | 69 |