Club Notes - 20th July 2003

The number of members taking part in races last week was well down on recent times, in part this was down to some of us like Dave Bridden, Marc Briand , Andy Bain and YT giving up our Sunday rides to Marshall the National 100 that should have taken place, however a surprise coning off on the A50 for assessment/maintenance meant that the event had to be postponed at the last moment, and if the marshals were a little put out I would not have traded my position for the organiser who despite frantic efforts to contact the 155 entrants, still had to get up at 4 on Sunday to inform bleary eyed racers that their early rise was in vain. I will still like to thank the afore mentioned members plus John Chapman, Dave Butterworth , Pat Bridden and Pete Key for agreeing to turn out in the first place, the new date for the event looks like being on the 21^st of September hope you guys can make it. The good news is it will be a later start time.

Some members are also on holiday, and some just had other commitments the upshot of all this meant that the largest turnout we had was four in the Westmead Team 88 on the Saturday evening.

First rider away was Dave Bridden however due to technical difficulties Dave’s testing bike was un-rideable, fortunately Dave took his road bike as back up and after a frantic few minutes trying to sort out the test bike ended up riding that! All the problems however put him off his best and Dave was less than happy with his time of 27-22. Next man away was Mark Poyser who had commented that he was feeling the effects of doing a lot of miles in the week, having been on holiday and making the most of the excellent weather despite this Mark still managed to record a time of 23-29. YT was next away but any hope of a good result evaporated at Chelford Island getting baulked on out and back leg ending in one of my slowest times of the season at 22-45. Stuart Cope was last Leek man away, Stuart now seeming to have sorted out his position and was experimenting on higher cadence rate and less pushing big gears, Stuart saying that he felt a lot better for it and his time of 26-21 bears out his feelings. The favorite Sourbridge CC’s B Charley however took the event itself emphatically in a scorching 20-48.

Tuesday and although we had only three riders for the latest in the Congleton 10 series, I am happy to announce that one was a new club member. So I would like to welcome Graham Hill to the club, Graham who knows Dave Butterworth was finally convinced to give it ago by Dave who pointed out that with all the miles he does would easily cope with the rigors of 10’s and 25’s an argument that considering Dave’s minimalist approach could not be denied by anyone. With the Gauntlet thrown down both riders attended the 10, with the Dave’s experience just edging out the new guy with times of 25-26 to 25-28 mind you he did have to nearly break his PB to do it. Roll on next week. I was the third man and with no Chelford Island managed to get back down towards the short 22’s at 22-18 to take the event.

Wednesday and we were down to two riders in the Macclesfeild Wheelers 10. Our Audaxing man Dave Cooper who was giving his testing bike an airing joined me. Dave’s method of getting his adrenalin flowing is a bit questionable however. But I did promise not to mention it, I just hope he doesn’t repeat it when he does the Paris –Brest later in the year, has its a lot further to go back home to get your shoes Oops sorry Dave! Dave also used to long warm ups and already running late also managed to miss his start; despite all of this he still managed a solid 25-49. YT had a relatively straight forward run, not difficult under the circumstances, making the most of it to knock a couple of seconds off my PB with a time of 22-02, frustratingly close to a sub 22 minute ride but with the absence of Mac’s big hitters quick enough for victory in the event.

I still haven’t received Adam’s views on his success’s down at the track, methinks he’s going out training you know, still we will keep our fingers crossed that Adam will find time to put pen to paper or finger to keypad, in the mean time we will have to make do with the snippets in the Sentinel on Thursdays.

At least I can give you the full results of Rich Brooks excellent 7^th place in his half Ironman tri-athlon as promised. The event which took place in and around Trentham Gardens attracted getting on for 200 entrants, the breaks for the three events compared to the winner, who along with the runner-up is part of the World Class Performance Plan that was responsible for the results in the Commonwealth games and the last Olympics. 1st Andrew Blow, swim 0:26:47, bike 2:11:11, run 1:11:59 Total 3:49:57

7th Rich Brooks, swim 0:29:50, bike 2:19:30, run 1:25:56, total 4:15:16

Distances for the events were swim 1.25 miles bike 56miles run13.1mile

Finally a timely reminder that the clubs Birthday is on the 3^rd of August and as there is yet to be an official launch of our sponsorship with Den Engel Bar & Restaurant this year will be a low key affair with just a few drinks and a birthday cake up at the club house from about 1.30 onwards. Before then though we have the National 24 hour time trial with two or even three riders taking part, any volunteers for marshalling shifts should contact Graham Halden ASAP.