King's Lynn riders show character in conditions

It was tough work for the 14 brave souls who turned out for Lynn Cycling Club's 10-mile time trial at Tottenhill last Wednesday.

Whilst the temperature struggled to make double figures, the wind speed certainly didn't, with the strong, gusty northerly making

conditions particularly challenging in the final third of the course.

All the riders showed plenty of character, none more so than Nicky Brown, who remarkably set her best time of the season.

As the only competitor in the ladies old school class, she powered home in a time of 27.58 to bag maximum points.

In the equivalent men's class, Jamie Standen continues to stamp his authority with his fourth win from as many rides, thanks to his 24.05.

Despite riding traditional road bikes, both of them had the distinction of beating their clubmates on time trial bikes.

In his own category, Standen saw off the challenge of Simon Hardy by almost a clear two minutes, the latter completing the course in exactly 26 minutes, and continuing to lead the championship as he is yet to miss a race.

Trevor Marshall recorded a 26.57 to come third, completing an identical top three from the previous week.

Fourth was Peter Barber who recorded a time of 35.56.

Meanwhile, the men's time trial section was somewhat depleted in numbers, but as the saying goes 'you've got to be in it to win it.' Chris Levy duly did so, recording his first maximum points haul of the season with a time of 26.24.

Still ever-present for the year, he retains a solid second place in the championship.

The runner-up was Ming Lo, who will also have been glad he braved the chill weather to secure his highest finish of the campaign so far, coming home in 28.44.

Bethany Barnett was the only racer in both the ladies time trial and juniors categories, so she had more to gain than anyone.

Despite starting last on the road, and riding unopposed to two lots of maximum points, Barnett certainly wasn't hanging around.

Her 29.25 allowed her to retake the lead in the ladies competition, but she remains some way back in the juniors having raced fewer times than Tye Rugg, who was absent for the first time this season.

Also having things all to themselves were the only two-up pairing, James Senter and Ivan Carr.

After a three-week gap, in which Senter has raced solo, they teamed up again totake on the strong winds.

The extra shelter they afforded each other was rewarded with a strong time of 22.37.

Meanwhile, fastest of all was Team Velovelocity's Dan Bloy whose almost superhuman effort of 20.46 blew everyone away.

In the sixth race so far this season, he became the sixth different person to finish as top visiting rider, three of them from Velovelocity.

Full results: Daniel Bloy (Team Velovelocity) 20.46, James Senter and Ivan Carr 22.37, Martin Johnson (RAF) 23.43, Jamie Standen 24.05, Simon Hardy 26.00, Chris Levy 26.24, Trevor Marshall 26.57, Nicky Brown 27.58, Eleanor Cadzow (Welwyn Wheelers) 28.12, Ming Lo 28.44, Bethany Barnett 29.25, Denese Hallahan (Wisbech Wheelers) 34.25, Peter Barber 35.56.