Four club teams took to the start line for what is in effect the first local time trial of the season, unless you count the New Years Day 10 mile event.
This was held on the Hamstreet by pass course, starting at Old Romney, and going up to Ashford, then returning to finish near Brenzett. To put it mildly, conditions were “interesting”! The early riders enjoyed a dry start to their rides, but had to contend with rain and a rising wind on the return leg. Later riders had both the heavy rain and winds of up to around 40 mph to deal with. The crosswinds on the start and finish legs on the A259 were particularly tricky, even with shallow section wheels. A sign of the deteriorating conditions was that none of the final 6 teams started! The last club team to start was Martin Russell, Paul Kelk and Dave Mastin, who were in two minds whether to ride, but they bit the bullet and rode. Martin was by far the strongest rider, doing long turns on the front, while Paul and Dave, both recovering from chest infections, held on as best they could.
The team of Chris and Nic Fennell and Seb Dickson were expected to be challenging for top spot, but unfortunately, Chris was a DNS, and so with only two finishers, their time does not count for the results. However, the team of Simon Henderson, Rick Perkins and Huck Garip had a good ride and got 2nd place overall behind a trio of PMR riders.
Club times in start order:-
Paul and Mike Kirkness and Scott Meeks: 1.04.39
Simon Henderson, Rick Perkins and Huck Garip: 57.37 (2nd overall)
Nic Fennel and Seb Dickson: 58.12
Martin Russell, Paul Kelk and Dave Mastin: 1.11.23
Report by Dave Mastin