News

Fast times in series opener 

A record turnout of 36 riders entered Ystwyth Cycling Clubs first 10 mile time trial of the season, with new faces joining the regulars from last season to give the timekeepers the new unenvious task of keeping an eye on the start and finish zones at the same time.

With conditions being favourable, many riders surprised themselves with unseasonal fast times. This was certainly a better night than many of the horrendous bad weather nights the club experienced in 2008.                 

In the female category, Olympic development triathlete Elinor Thorogood(27.49 PB) took the win from Sally Harmer who put an early fast one on the board with 28.55with new mum Anita Saycell (31.30) in third in her first race since giving birth.

Emyr Hopkins finally succeeded in getting a sub 30min time with 29.59 and veteren Brian Ashton stunned not only himself, but most of his rivals with 29.07for a new personal best. New member Matt Ingham rode an impressive 27.02 in his first time trial and regular Paul Brewer started the year with a PB of 25.18.

For the race favourites, Michael Tarling showed some early promise before puncturing after half distance while Mark Hammond and Andy Hunt decided to use conventional road bikes against aero TT bikes and so ruled themselves out of the running.

It was left to Paul Jones and Scott Tompsett to battle Danny Thorogood for the top three positions. Scott, a former high standard runner has converted well to cycling over the winter, yet it was his training partner Paul Jones who ticked off a sub 24 minute ride so early in the year with 23.57 for second place whilst last years series winner Danny Thorogood again set the benchmark with a fantastic 22.15 for a personal best on the the course, edging himself closer and closer to the mark of Arwel Davies’ 21.57 (1997) and Dafydd Dylan’s course record of 21.34 (2008).