Time Trial Secretary’s Report 2022

 

2022 has been another very successful time-trialling season for the club.  There have been many excellent performances in both open and club events.  Personal bests were set distances from 10 to 50 miles and we had numerous wins in both individual and team open events.

 

Open Events.

Our most successful rider was once again Paul Pardoe. He won the ECCA 10 and 25 mile Championships, as the fastest ECCA member in each of those events, set a new club record in 1h41m01s in finishing second in the 50 and won both the overall and short distance championships.  He had at least 6 outright wins, and was placed in the top 5 in each of the events he rode.

Paul and  Malcom Smith both took part in the Merlin Classic Series, competing in 4 of the 6 rounds as far afield as Bournemouth, Buxton and Penrith.

Malcom won the Vet’s Standard Time competition and came 3rd in the Vet’s Scratch category and also won the 55-59 year old category at the National Circuit Champs round of the series.  Paul won the Vet’s Scratch competition and came 3rd in the Standard Time competition and was proud to break the Vet’s Course record at The Beacon RCC Little Mountain Time Trial.  A record that had stood for 17 years.

They are looking forward to an invitation to the CTT Champions Night on 14th January to collect their awards!

Jamie Murray won the second round of the N&DCA series.

We had team wins in the ECCA 25 (Paul, Jamie, Kevin Hobbs)  and 50 mile (Paul, Malcolm Smith, Phil Jones) championships.  Full results are available on the ECCA web site.

PCC was again dominant in the N&DCA series.  Jamie Murray, Kevin Hobbs and Mark Tomlinson were 2nd, 3rd and 5th respectively in the overall series, Kevin also winning the Masters A championship, and PCC winning the overall team championship.  Full results are available on the N&DCA web site.

Top 10 placings in open events were also achieved by Kevin Hobbs, Malcolm Smith and Mark Tomlinson.

Phil Jones’ long-distance season was unfortunately cut short due to a bout of covid, but he did complete a 100 mile event in Hampshire.

Congratulations to all those who rode.  It is excellent to see the club so well represented and long may it continue.  A full list of open event performances by club members, including personal bests, is available on the club web site.

 

Club Events.

We ran the usual club championships (starting with the Hardriders’ in February) with the exception of the 2-up.  This year no pairs entered on the evening of the event so it was run as a standard 10.  To continue with this championship could be a matter for discussion at any AGM.  All the championship event results and the overall standings are available on the web site.  The overall champion is Mark Tomlinson.

The weekly evening events were moved to Tuesdays this year in an effort to increase participation.  I believe this was successful in that the number of rides showed a 25% increase over 2021, which rather bucks the trend of time trialling in general.  The summer 10 series on both actual time and handicap time were both won by Matt Garfield.  We welcomed some new riders to the club and series.  Newcomer Jack Eastman-Nye only missed out on the handicap series by 1 point!  One ride of particular note was Paul Pardoe’s 20:45 in the Scratch 10, a time only ever bettered on that course by professional rider Steve Lampier (and that by just 6 seconds).  Again, all results and standings are available on the web site.

I would like to thank John McCarthy, Kevin Hobbs, Joe Ippolito, Phil Jones and Mark Tomlinson for their help in promoting the club events this season.

 

Promoted Events.

PCC was involved in the promotion of 3 open time trials this season.

Kevin Hobbs promoted the 4th round of the N&DCA series on behalf of the club in June on the N1/15 course at Sawtry.  Unfortunately, this year the event clashed with the Tour of Cambridgeshire and hence there were fewer entries than usual.  However, the event was still a success and Kevin has volunteered to promote the corresponding event in 2023.

I promoted a 10 on behalf of the VTTA (East Midlands) on the A10/14A course at Long Bennington in April, and the ECCA Championship 10 on the E2/10 in June.  I would like to thank John McCarthy and Kevin Hobbs for their help at both events.  I intend to promote two corresponding events next year.

 

Time Trialling Administration.

PCC has also been heavily involved in the administration of the sport within our area.

Sadly Richard Daniells was tragically killed in a cycling accident in June.  He was ‘Mr Time Trial’ in SE Midlands district and left ‘very big shoes to fill’.  Kevin Hobbs, Phil Jones and Mark Tomlinson attended the special meeting of the N&DCA in August, instigated following Richard’s death.  Mark has now joined the N&DCA committee and Phil Jones has done sterling and much appreciated work in unravelling the N&DCA’s finances to take the association forward for next year and beyond.

I continue to be the open and club events secretary for the SE Midlands District, and have also taken on the responsibilities of treasurer and course risk assessment secretary.

 

 

Dave Yarham

08/11/22