Mercia Report 01-08-10

A trip down to London saw David Clarke finish in 3rd place in the Rollapaluza Urban Hill climb held on Swains Lane, Highgate London. The hill was 950 meters long. Clarke’s finishing time was 1 minute 34.6 seconds. 15-year-old Germain Burton who timed 1 minute 33.7 seconds surprisingly beat him for 2nd place. In first place was Chris Metcalf (Matlock CC) in 1 minute 32.9 seconds. There were over 100 riders who rode the hillcimb, which included a number on folding bikes. One chap rode up with a dog in a handle bar mounted basket.

Jack Hugill chose the right event when he did a personall best of 56 min 43 seconds in Derby Mercury’s 25 mile time trial on the Etwall course. Anne Staley (Plan B) timed 1 02 41. The winner Andy Bason (Team Pedal Revolution) timed 49 07.

Matt Simons chose instead to ride Leicester Forest’s 25 mile time trial on the hillier Six Hills course on the A46 timing 1 01 07 for 13th place. Geoff Platts (I ride.co.uk) from Loughborough timed 55 02 to win the time trial.

Jim Hopper (Derby Mercury) from Yoxall clocked up 360.580 miles on his tricycle to finish 35th out of 61 finishers in the 24 hour National Championships organised by the Mersey Roads CC based on Farndon near Chester, using Cheshire & Shropshire roads. The winner John Warnock (Twickenham CC) cycled 516.111 miles the second highest mileage ever recorded over 24 hours.

A good night weather wise with a light wind on the Yoxall 10 mile course meant there were some fast times in the Mercia HBM’s evening time trial. The 14 riders & times were as follows: David Clarke (Pendragon Colnago) 22 15, Simon Smith 23 58, Jack Hugill 24 40, Nigel Roberts (Lichfield City CC) 24 49, Simon Dunsby (Plan B) 25 24, Daniel Partington 25 38, Keith Staley 26 07, Jeff Lea 26 33, Tony Marlow 27 26, Mick Abbott 27 30, Craig Tucker 27 56, Graham Dingley 29 18, Nick Chapman (South Derbyshire Runners) 29 39 & Andy Burton 29 51.