Richard Woodward writes…
Whilst other club members were seeking fast times on the H25/2 Hampshire course I travelled even further afield to Wiltshire to ride the legendary P613 10 mile course near Thruxton motor racing course.
I say it’s legendary because the 4 times I have entered events on this course I have never managed to ride it. The first 2 times it was called off at the last minute due to wet weather and the subsequent times I failed to get on the start sheet due to the events being over subscribed.
This time was going to be different though. The weather was dry and the sun came out but there was a fairly stiff breeze that was not going to help with this east-west course on the A303. With an early start I was 13th man off and into the wind.
I soon caught an earlier starter and then caught sight of No 35, my minute man. He acted as my carrot to push a little harder and slowly I reeled him in until finally overtaking him on the finish line. Back at the headquarters when the times were being posted I was surprised that after the first half of the fields’ times were posted I was in the lead.
This however didn’t last for long and soon quicker times appeared. When the final results were posted I came in fourth position with a time of 22:39, a personal best for me by 44 seconds. Let’s hope next time there isn’t any wind.
Final results: 1st Andy Laycock Newbury RC 22:10 2nd Chris Burch www.Banjocycles.com 22:14 3rd Simon Church London Dynamo 22:16 4th Richard Woodward EGCC 22:39
Next week the also legendary Q10/19!
