Despite the distance, 26 riders stepped up to the challenge of the Hafren CC’s 25 mile time trial last Wednesday. The strong field was tempted by the sunny conditions and the chance to have a well deserved recovery drink in The Oak public house in Guilsfield, which was the race HQ for the evening.
After the blistering pace shown by Graham Harris in the previous race to clinch first spot, Medwyn Jones was looking to restore the order and put some daylight between himself and Graham in the overall series on his own patch. The 25 mile route has riders dreaming of the magical time of 1 hour and upon entering the airport roundabout outside Welshpool at the 14 mile mark, many of the riders were up on the 25mph average needed to beat the clock.
All dreams were smashed however when the riders pointed their trusty steeds back towards Arddleen and were battered by strong head winds. Despite the deceptive conditions, Medwyn managed to take 41 seconds out of Graham to finish in a fantastic time of 1:01:14, pushing Graham into second on the night. Paul Bufton improved on his strong showing the previous week by taking 3rd spot on the night, again pushing Bryn Davies down a place into 4th in a time of 1:03:41. Entering the top 5 for the first time this season was Darren Jarman, who was less that 1 second per mile (which sounds better than 23 seconds) behind Bryn on the night.
In the second race of the evening, Carl Spencer took the win on the 22 mile route in a time of 56 minutes, ensuring he was back at the HQ in time for the cakes (with all proceeds going to the Welsh Air Ambulance) before Ian Coe and the other big hitters returned from the main race.
Wednesday 3rd July see’s the series head back over to Newtown for the 12.5 mile TT. For a full list of results, please click here.