ESCA 10 & 25 and ERCC 10

The first of Eastbourne Rovers’ series of 10-mile time-trials took place on the evening of Thursday 21st April on the well-used A22-based course.  Fastest of the five Lewes Wanderers to participate was Tom Moss (representing Southborough & DIstrict Wheelers) in 6th place in a time of 23 minutes and 26 seconds.  Michael Valks (ERCC) was 11th in 26:19, Peter Baker 25th in 31:12, Paul Hanratty one place behind in 31:20 and Adrian Hills racing for the host club 28th in 34:22.

The course was back in use on the morning of Saturday 23rd as trainSharp promoted an East Sussex Cycling Association event over the same distance.  Joe Benians was quickest of the eight Wanderers in 6th overall thanks to a time of 21:24, but representing the hosts Sally Turner was 10th overall and fastest of the half-dozen female racers in 22:33.

Clint Allen by Emma Gearing

Second fastest female and 21st overall was Kate Thomas in a new personal best, 19 seconds quicker than her mark set last month, in 24:18.  Kate Parrish was 4th fastest female and 31st overall in 25:55, just behind a trio of her male clubmates.  Mike Hannay was 25th in 25:23; Peter Baker 29th in 25:48 and Dan Street 30th in 25:51.  Clint Allen finished 35th of  41 to cover the distance in a time of 27:07.

The course was put to use again twenty-four hours later when it formed the middle section of the ESCA 25-mile event that traditionally follows the 10.  Once again Joe Benians was the fastest Lewes rider and broke the 55 minutes barrier as he placed 9th in 54:58.

Sally Turner (trainSharp) completed “the double” as again she proved fastest female and finished an impressive 14th overall in 57:05.  Kate Thomas was relegated to third spot on the podium on Sunday, but her time of 1:02:57 was a personal-best by over 4 minutes and gave her 26th overall.  Kate Parrish was 5th of the seven female competitors and 30th overall in 1:04:19.

As the day before she was surrounded by male clubmates on the results sheet as she was one place behind Mike Hannay (1:04:05) and one ahead of Peter Baker (1:04:34) who, in turn, was one place ahead of Neil Edwards who recorded a fine 1:05:45 on a road bike.

Further up the leaderboard were Rob Rollings, in 16th out of 37 finishers in 57:52, and Duncan Fuller in 21st in 59:23.