Swanbury’s unexpected form

Velo Club Baracchi riders in the VTTA East Anglia 10-mile time trial on the A143, turning round Clays Roundabout, enjoyed a strong tailwind on the first leg but lost a lot of speed into the strong wind on the return.

Unusually, John Swanbury, tenth overall, was faster than Chris Womack with 24:56 to Womack’s 25:26.  John Thompson achieved 28:20.

The fastest ride of the day was by Martin Reynolds of Cambridge CC, in 22:35.  He beat his veteran age standard by four minutes and fifteen seconds (+4:15).

The best “plus” (+5:03) was recorded by Chris Nudds of CC Breckland from his 23:20 time, followed by Ron Back of West Suffolk Wheelers & Tri Club with +4:51 from his 25:16, Brian Davies of Anglia Velo with +4:14 from his 25:00, John Adams of Stowmarket & District CC with +3:50 from his 25:00 and then Swanbury for sixth on standard with +3:36.

Nudds won the Ron Fisher/Jack King Memorial Shield with his veteran result. The team prize was won by West Suffolk Wheelers with the total plusses of John Coles, David Howes and Ron Back (+9:06).  VCB ran them closest with +6:06.

In last week’s Godric CC club 10 the VCB solo results showed a close contest for the two best, with Paul Dennington 22:43, Titch Richards 22:45 and John Thompson 27:24.

Two-up teams were encouraged, so George Kerridge (VCB) and Nicki Hawkes (Team VeloVelocity) rode 2-up and achieved a pleasing 23:51.

Ali Banks teamed up with Swanbury on the tandem.  It seemed to be not as fast a night as the previous week and their time was 22:50.

The fastest solo was James Trenchard of Godric CC with 21:34 and the fastest 2-up team was Steve Gorbutt of Diss CC and Simon Warren of Anglia Velo in 21:00. Thirty-nine riders took part in this Godric club event.

Thursday’s Gt Yarmouth CC club 10 at Somerleyton attracted 21 riders, the fastest of whom was Harley Matthews of the home club with 22:07.  Stuart Pryce of Strada Sport was second with 22:17, with VCB’s Dennington third in 23:22.

Phil Hargreaves of VC Norwich (23:37) and Mark Westrup (Strada Sport) took the next two places, followed by VCB’s Titch Richards, sixth in 23:51, the only other rider over 25mph.

Other VCB times were Joe Reynolds 29:03 and Richard Allen 29:25 in 15^th and 16^th places.

Thompson rode the Bedfordshire Roads CC open 25 on Sunday.  He wondered if he was wise to bother, as he set off before 4am to drive through heavy rain and partial floods at Barnby, but fortunately the event was on.

The course started and finished at Tempsford, using the version that takes the A1 south to junction with the roundabout just before it becomes a motorway and retracing.”  He was pleased with 1-13:04, considering the weather. Simon Norman of the promoting club won in 53:40.

Sunday’s 25-mile time trial on the Somerleyton planned by Gt Yarmouth CC as part of the Holmes Cup events had to be cancelled because of standing water.