East Sussex CA 25

East Sussex CA 25  G25/89

Getting out of bed to marshal a race is so much easier than when you are racing . There is a lot less prep required, almost nothing to put in the car and you can arrive at the race much later without that feeling of dread that you have left something important behind.  Although I was not racing, I still checked the weather forecast and made a note of the low wind speed and direction and also the air temperature. Conditions were going to be, and actually turned out to be very good.

I was stationed at the second roundabout  with my left arm pointing left.  With a good entry from the club I was hopeful that I would have plenty of reasons to cheer as my fellow club mates and  time trial enthusiasts went by.

First EG star to arrive at “my” roundabout was Steve Dennis who was clearly lost until he saw me pointing left which got him back on track straight away! In fact I managed to help Chris Yates, Richard Woodard, Mark Bashford, Chris Welch, Richard Woodward, Nick Martin and Gemma Hayes who was the only one that thanked me for my expert signalling, the rest seemed too engrossed in getting round the corner as fast as they could!

After 2 hours everyone was safely through and ready to do another 23 miles!

I moved position to the other side of the concrete donut  to help riders navigate the last turn. Before this, a couple of riders came to see me again which meant they had gone the wrong way including an Oxted rider so I had to shout go right and wave my arm around which they probably couldn’t see with eyes full of sweat. I am glad it was no-one from the club. Richard came to see how I was getting on and he could see I was in control so I decided to return his club hammer which I was planning to throw at riders who looked like they were going faster than Steve Dennis. My aim, arm speed and strength are rubbish so I missed Pete Tadros and Conall Yates by 10 feet or so. You try throwing a 1KG club hammer at a guy cornering at 30mph, it’s not easy!

After 3 hours stood at a roundabout I realised I should have put a fold up chair in the car,  and a cross bow.

In the end Pete Tadros did win in a great time for this course and managed to navigate some very busy traffic (and a club hammer)  which I know slowed a few down on my roundabout.

Well done to our finishers. Mark, Chris and Steve who were 2^nd team overall and to Gemma who I think did a PB