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@clubman
My report on our interclub 25.
Although there was only one fixed gear rider (who did an '8') forum users may be interested to note that the two best Hounslow performances came from riders who have done excellent fixed gear 25's recently, and have both competed at Reading Track this year.
Nic Stagg was riding his new TT bike (carbon, gears, everything modern), which is obviously very efficient, but still only gave him a limited gain over his Good Friday ride when he did 58.01 (on fixed, see report above) on the same course.
Interclub 25 -20th May 2012.
Participating clubs: Hounslow & Dist., Twickenham CC, Westerley RC and Weybridge Wheelers.
The trophy awarded in this event is for the best handicap club team performance and it was again won by the Twickenham CC.
The outright winner was Nic Stagg who recorded the impressive time of 56 minutes 51 seconds. This was an improvement of a minute and sixteen seconds on his ride in the Good Friday 25 on the same course, but this was on a day when many were actually slower than they had been at Easter, and it could be said that Nic saved the club’s honour when all the places from second to fifth went to riders from the Twickenham and the Westerley. It should be mentioned here that Stuart Stow, who took the sixth place, produced an excellent performance with 1.00.16, also improving on his Good Friday time. Both these Hounslow members have been riding at Reading track this year and perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt here.
Liam Maybank of the Twickenham took second place, as he did in 2011. His time of 58.01, which would often be good enough to win on this course, came from his first competitive ride of the year. Liam likes to mix time trialling with road racing – often a successful formula – but this year pressures from life outside cycling have caused him to start his season rather late. To go this fast in a first event should give him high hopes for the summer.
However, the most outstanding ride of the morning came from one of the Twickenham’s youngest riders, seventeen year old Rory Atkins. He started as a novice with no qualifying time to put on his entry, and finished with a time of 58.29. An outstanding performance anywhere, on this course it can only be described as brilliant.
This ride (done from an early start) appeared to put the Twickenham in an unchallengeable position in the handicap competition, because although Atkins allowance of 10 minutes did not seem particularly generous for a young novice it resulted in a handicap time of 48.29 which gave their team a head start. A long way down the start order came Mark Silver (Hounslow) riding a trike. The handicapper (Martyn Roach, of the Hounslow) clearly recognised that a three wheeler is a particularly unsuitable machine for the hilly and tortuous West of Windsor course and so gave him a generous 25 minute allowance. This resulted in a handicap time of 49.16 which at least put the club back into contention, but the outcome of the team race was Twickenham first, Hounslow second and Westerley third. The Weybridge did not finish a team.
Mark Silver goes to the Tricycle World Championships in Belgium next weekend, so this 25 was just a warm up for him, and we hope to report a successful trip next week.
The Interclub 25 was first organised in 1925 between the Twickenham, the Kingston and the Ross Wheelers (Richmond), and with numerous changes among the participating clubs has been run continuously since that time. It is intended to give encouragement to novice riders through its emphasis on the handicap system. This year’s edition (organised by the Hounslow) attracted 77 entrants, the largest field for many years: another example of the current rapid growth of cyclesport in Britain.
Result:
Handicap Team:
2hours 37 minutes 12 seconds.
Hounslow and District Wheelers (Mark Silver, Start Stow and Andrew Caldwell) 2 hours 39 minutes 20 seconds.
Scratch (top 10):