Southern Counties Cycling Union 50

Team Bottrill’s Alex Clay stormed to overall victory in the Southern Counties CU 50-mile time trial near Steyning in West Sussex on Sunday, beating all other riders and leaving fastest man Ian Cheesman to settle for second.

In a field high on quality and enthusiasm but low on numbers, Clay clocked 1-55-35 to win by 8-45 from Worthing Excelsior CC veteran Ian Cheesman while third on a time trial bike was Ferenc File (Horsham Cycling), almost four minutes further back.

Roadworks on part of the original course forced a shift to this slight alternative, but there were still some strong rides throughout the field.

At the other end of the scale there was an interesting battle between Brighton Mitre CC’s 75-year-old Robin Johnson and Vernon Thomas (Greenwich Tritons Tri), with Robin coming out on top with a time of 2-47-55 to Vernon’s 3-01-49.

GS Stella’ Tony Reeves managed to be three minutes late to the start despite knowing the course, but still managed to win the road bike category with 2-17-33, with Chris Parker (Hastings and St Leonards CC) runner-up in 2-53-33.

This was Clay’s first victory since being part of the winning trio at the National Team Time Trial Championship in Warwickshire last month, having been a non-finisher at the a3crg 50 last weekend.

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