Paul Blackmore writes…
Whilst the rest of the club were racing against local minnows, PB entered the National 10 on the ‘local’ A3 course starting at Liphook. The new course was in jeopardy due to rain but it stopped early and after a 30 minute delay the first of the 160 men was off. I was off number 59 and had a reasonably trouble free ride. Had to slow down a bit at Ham Barn roundabout but otherwise no excuses, recording 21-15, not too far off a PB and similar to the likes of Tim Stevens 21-13, James Dear 21-11 and Mark Winton 20-59.
Unfortunately I had to scoot off before the top boys were off, by which time the conditions were much better of course! It was a great event, really well organised with lots of marshalls, shouts of encouragement at the turn and from my Dad and an up to the minute results service. This was my first National and it was great to do such a big event, although next time I’ll look to improve on 94th overall!
Results # Rider Club Time Notes 5 miles mph 1 Michael Hutchinson In-Gear Quickvit RT 00:18:07 SEN 00:08:55 33.118 2 Tony Gibb Team Plowman Craven 00:18:50 SEN 00:09:04 31.858 3 Charles McCulloch Shorter Rochford RT 00:19:03 VET 00:09:11 31.496 4 Ben Instone www.scientific-coaching.com 00:19:09 SEN 00:09:13 31.331 5 Alex Dowsett 100% ME 00:19:16 ESP 00:09:11 31.141 6 Craig Simpson Blue Sky Cycles 00:19:25 SEN 00:09:37 30.901
