Ben Hardisty
Is there no end to this wet summer ? I thought to myself as Rob picked me up at 0515 on Saturday morning. This was Rob’s first ride on the Horsham course and it was a shame the weather couldn’t have turned out for him. With not much form between either of us the omens were not particularly good. Rob was riding only his 3rd/4th outing of the season.
The day before, the weather forecast had changed once again, but this time predicting only heavy cloud. In the event it was very dark, we had some lightish persistent rain but on the plus side there was little wind to speak of.
Rob and I had a reasonable warm up ride down to the start, where we rode past the timekeepers and on up the small rise to get the heart and breathing going. Finally we were off with Rob starting 4 minutes ahead of me. I set off knowing I had number 10 Mark Winton starting 2 minutes behind me. He caught me after what seemed err …only about 2 minutes and fairly sped past (for 5th place).
There was a fair amount of water on the road and this made any cornering a timid affair, particularly the halfway roundabout 180° turn which I gently feathered around, searching for any dryer patches of road. As you start the return leg, it is this point on the course where you determine if there is much wind, and I was grateful to feel only a small amount. I actually thought I was on for my first sub 25 minute 10, but in the end I was well shy of that modest target.
As Rob and I discussed on the way back home, its better to have ridden than not at all, as there were quite a few DNS’s.
Starting a bit later at number 40 Paul Blackmore rode to a solid 22:41 for 9th place.
Mike Anton adds
A fairly miserable morning but chapeau to those that rode (and marshalled, and helped and stood around taking pics….).
Results 1. Christian Yates InGear RT 20:33 2. Keith Coffey Bec CC 20:46 3. Lee Turner Sigma Sport 21:16 EGCC Results Rob Dickson 27:14 Ben Hardisty 25:37 Paul Blackmore 22:41
Catch all the action on Mike Anton’s photography website here 
pics from event
