Well, another change in the weather. Who could have thought? A heavy, damp and drizzly night reduced the willing field to 17 riders this evening. It was going to be a case of gritting your teeth, and just getting on with it, to hope not to lose too much time from your target PB!
This was indeed to be the case, and in the Guardian Cup series it was just a loss limiting exercise as you’ll see from the points. Roads were greasy, so turns and bends were taken with caution by most.
There was however one exception to the rule tonight, and as I struggled along the A50 as number 7, a flash of green and black came past in the form of number 11 – Matt Nowell, from Team Wheelbase Altura MGD, to bring home an astonishing 21:00 dead, knocking 34 seconds of his own personal best on this course, and shaving 2 seconds of Lee Suthard’s best on the course from last year!
| Position | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Nowell* | 21:00 |
| 2 | Lee Suthard | 23:05 |
| 3 | Jim Williams | 24:39 |
| 4 | Craig Lee | 25:35 |
| 5 | Colin Carthy | 26:00 |
| 6 | Jo Blakeley | 26:21 |
| 7 | Neil Drummond | 26:51 |
| 8 | Dan Robson | 26:59 |
| 9 | Ady Japp | 27:03 |
| 10 | Emily Martin | 27:03 |
| 11 | Andy Woolley | 27:05 |
| 12 | Mark Walker | 27:12 |
| 13 | Rich Munro | 27:35 |
| 14 | Steve Marlow | 28:08 |
| 15 | Paul Woodfinden* | 27:44 |
| 16 | Geoff Lovelady | 29:59 |
| 17 | Rob Amson* | 32:24 |
* Non members will not gain points for Guardian Cup.
So, Guardian Cup points for the evening show Rich as the loss limiter of the night, with a max of 25 points, and as you can see, no more PBs for the evening for the points scorers.
| Position | Rider | Time | Current PB | New PB | PB Date 2014/15 | +/- Sec s | Guardian Cup Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rich Munro | 27:35 | 27:31 | 27:31 | 18-May-2016 | -4 | 25 |
| 2 | Mark Walker | 27:12 | 00:26:34 | 26:34 | 18-May-2016 | -38 | 24 |
| 3 | Jo Blakeley | 26:21 | 00:25:38 | 25:38 | 18-May-2016 | -43 | 23 |
| 4 | Colin Carthy | 26:00 | 00:25:16 | 25:16 | 24-Jun-2015 | -44 | 22 |
| 5 | Emily Martin | 27:03 | 00:26:17 | 26:17 | 18-May-2016 | -46 | 21 |
| 6 | Ady Japp | 27:03 | 00:26:11 | 26:11 | 24-Jul-2015 | -52 | 20 |
| 7 | Steve Marlow | 28:08 | 27:15 | 27:15 | 01-Jul-2015 | -53 | 19 |
| 8 | Dan Robson | 26:59 | 00:26:05 | 26:05 | 04-May-2016 | -54 | 18 |
| 8 | Jim Williams | 24:39 | 00:23:45 | 23:45 | 18-May-2016 | -54 | 18 |
| 10 | Andy Woolley | 27:05 | 00:26:01 | 26:01 | 18-May-2016 | -64 | 16 |
| 11 | Craig Lee | 25:35 | 00:24:18 | 24:18 | 15-Jul-2015 | -77 | 15 |
| 12 | Geoff Lovelady | 29:59 | 28:32 | 28:32 | 18-May-2016 | -87 | 14 |
| 13 | Neil Drummond | 26:51 | 00:24:59 | 24:59 | 01-Jul-2015 | -112 | 13 |
| 14 | Lee Suthard | 23:05 | 21:02 | 21:02 | 22-Jul-2015 | -123 | 12 |
Overall positions as we get into the stride of the competition are below, with Emily on top spot just ahead of Jim, then a bit of a gap opening up as we go down the points table.
| Place | Total Points Best 5 | Name | Counting Rides | Current Handicap | Race 1 11th May | Race 2 218th May | Race 3 25th May |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 62 | Emily Martin | 3 | 26:17 | 19 | 22 | 21 |
| 2 | 59 | Jim Williams | 3 | 23:45 | 20 | 21 | 18 |
| 3 | 48 | Jo Blakeley | 2 | 25:39 | 25 | 23 | |
| 4 | 47 | Colin Carthy | 3 | 25:16 | 14 | 11 | 22 |
| 5 | 45 | Dave Wilkinson | 2 | 29:35 | 22 | 23 | |
| 6 | 44 | Mark Walker | 2 | 26:34 | 20 | 24 | |
| 7 | 43 | Geoff Lovelady | 3 | 28:32 | 10 | 19 | 14 |
| 8 | 41 | Ady Japp | 3 | 26:11 | 11 | 10 | 20 |
| 9 | 40 | Andy Woolley | 2 | 26:01 | 24 | 16 | |
| 10 | 35 | Colin Walsh | 2 | 25:56 | 17 | 18 | |
| 11 | 32 | Neil Drummond | 3 | 24:59 | 12 | 7 | 13 |
| 12 | 31 | Stu Ward | 2 | 24:40 | 16 | 15 | |
| 13 | 30 | Elaine Mossman | 2 | 29:50 | 13 | 17 | |
| 14 | 29 | Craig Lee | 3 | 24:18 | 5 | 9 | 15 |
| 15 | 28 | Steve Malkin | 2 | 26:34 | 16 | 12 | |
| 16 | 26 | Dan Robson | 2 | 26:05 | 8 | 18 | |
| 17 | 25 | Derek Heine | 1 | 31:25 | 25 | ||
| 17 | 25 | Jim Duffy | 1 | 22:56 | 25 | ||
| 17 | 25 | Rich Munro | 1 | 27:31 | 25 | ||
| 17 | 25 | Steve Marlow | 2 | 27:19 | 6 | 19 | |
| 21 | 23 | Dave Fearon | 1 | 23:24 | 23 | ||
| 22 | 21 | Caroline Fearon | 1 | 28:46 | 21 | ||
| 23 | 18 | Alan Silver | 1 | 29:55 | 18 | ||
| 24 | 16 | Andy George | 1 | 27:55 | 16 | ||
| 25 | 14 | John Hassall | 1 | 25:59 | 14 | ||
| 26 | 13 | Geoff Mullett | 1 | 23:33 | 13 | ||
| 27 | 12 | Lee Suthard | 1 | 21:02 | 12 | ||
| 28 | 9 | Simon Howells | 1 | 30:46 | 9 | ||
| 29 | 8 | Mark Dixon | 1 | 25:47 | 8 | ||
| 30 | 7 | Dave Read | 1 | 27:19 | 7 | ||
| 31 | 6 | Matt Sayle | 1 | 25:23 | 6 | ||
| 32 | 5 | Anthony Booth | 1 | 26:07 | 5 |
Let’s see what next week brings… 🙂