Mercia Report 23-08-09

David Clarke had another good win in the Maxgear.co.uk Road Race held at Scorton near Garstang in Lancashire. The race was organised by Lune RC over 100 kilometres in the Trough of Bowland. Despite being the only Pendragon Kalas rider he won easily beating Andrew Tennant & Robert Partridge of Team Halfords Bike Hut who finished 2nd & 3rd respectively. Prior to this event Clarke finished 13th in the 1 hour SIS Criterium Event No 19 held in the grounds of Preston University. The winner was Richard Hepworth (Arctic Premier RT).

Mark Ward competed in the Pro Velo Support “Sleepless in the Saddle” 24 hour Mountain Bike Race held at Catton Park. Mark finished a creditable 48th out of 78 entrants, riding a distance of 90 miles on a circuit of 7.5 miles through trees & deep mud in places. He lost time when his rear wheel hub broke & he had to walk 3 miles to get a replacement wheel. Mark was doing stints of 25 miles of riding then stopping for refreshments & short snoozes. Helping him in the pits was Mark Wendle. The winner was Robert Dean who achieved 195 miles.

Both David Clarke (Pendragon Kalas) & Sean Sleigh (Plan B) timed 11 25 for first place in the Mercia HBM 5 mile Evening Time Trial. There was as an entry of 20 riders on a fine evening. 2nd fastest was Daniel Partington (Plan B) 12 14 & 3rd fastest was Mercia's Jack Hugill 12 45. The rest of the times were Keith Staley 12 50, Simon Parker 13 08, Neil Sleigh (Plan B) 13 32, Peter Collins 13 40, Alec Taylor 13 48, Mark Eccleston 13 55, Justin Waters 14 22, Sam Hicks 14 25, Adrian Waters 15 08, Ivor James 15 16, Kieron Patterson 15 28, Phil Knott 15 38, Andy Burton 15 38, Tom Cox 16 48, Peter Rose 17 32, & Dave Peters 18 32.