The Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cycle Race Team Time Trial Series finished with a bang on Sunday with the inaugural Wightlink IOW Open TT Championship.
Almost 60 riders from the Island cycling community and mainland teams, took on the Chessell 40km sporting course and although the predicted rain held off, conditions were not ideal with strong gusts over Freshwater Bay and a southerly crosswind along the Military Road which challenged the riders’ bike handling skills to the limits.
It certainly wasn’t a day for setting records, but Tim Torrie (trainSharp Development Team) gave it his best shot and pulled out an impressive time of 1.00.08 which secured him the Overall Men’s Champion title and 1st place in the Men’s TT Bike Category. Lucy Gadd (Storey Racing) also showed her class by powering home in 1.11.47 to take the Overall Women’s Champion title and 1st place in the Women’s Road Bike category.
In the Men’s TT Bike category, Kev Chant (Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cycle Race Team), who still holds the course record, put in another great performance to take 2nd place in 1.01.16 and James Veal (Wightlink-Mountain Cycle Race Team) took 3rd place in 1.06.26. Anne Loh (NAUT Cycling) was on fine form and took the Women’s TT Bike title in 1.13.11 and 2nd place in the Overall placings.
Jordan Giles (Primera-Teamjobs) romped home in 1.04.03 to take the Men’s Road Bike title, with James Pett (Wightlink-Mountain Cycle Race Team) finishing in 1.09.32 to take 2nd followed closely by team mate, Adam Holleyman, who came home in 1.09.55 to take 3rd place.
In the Women’s Road Bike category, Nadia Lele (NAUT Cycling) came in 2nd behind Lucy Gadd in a time of 1.29.29 and Lucy Doorly (Wight Tri), in her first season of racing in the TT Series, took 3rd place in 1.39.27.
In the Vet Categories, Martin Piper (NAUT Cycling) took the Vet 50+ title in 1.10.28 just ahead of his team mate, Sean Williams, who finished in 1.10.30 and Craig Wilson (Wight Tri) who took 3rd place in 1.12.26. Steve Taylor (NAUT Cycling), who has competed in every race this season, continued his winning streak by taking the Vet 60+ crown in a time of 1.14.36 with Justin Steele (NAUT Cycling) taking 2nd in 1.18.45 and Lee Holdaway (Hastings & St Leonards CC), who travelled to the Island to compete, taking 3rd in 1.26.48.
Ewan Cook (Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cycle Race Team) remains unbeaten in the Junior category and stormed home in 34.22 (1 circuit of the 40km course) to take another win. Billy Williams (NAUT Cycling), racing in his last season as a Junior, came home in 36.44 to take 2nd and Henry Morgan (IOW Triathlon Club) put in a good performance to take 3rd in 41.57.
Organisers and Wightlink-Wight Mountain team members Jerry and Julie Cooper said,
“It was fantastic to see everyone again and great to meet some new riders from the mainland who were keen to take up the challenge, it certainly makes all the hard work worthwhile. It’s quite sad to be coming to the end of the Season, but the Series is proving to be such a great success and we hope that we can move on to bigger and better things in 2023 and beyond.
“Huge thanks go out to our sponsors, everyone who supports the events and the amazing volunteers from the local cycling community who give up their time to help out on the day – we really couldn’t do it without them.
“We also held the long-awaited Grand Draw in aid of Mountbatten after the presentation and we can’t thank enough all the local businesses and sponsors who supported the raffle with their generous donations which enabled us to hit our target of £2,000 for our chosen worthwhile charity”.
The last event of the Season is the Hill Climbs Championship to be held on Sunday, 2nd October.
Good to see some mainland competition over here, cleaned up too by the looks of it!
Were the roads shut for this like the Round Britain Cycle Race?