News & Features

Despite neither of them having ridden a half-day event before, Joe Skipper and Vicky Gill were crowned National 12-Hour Championship winners after the 2019 title race was staged by CC Breckland in Norfolk on Sunday.

Skipper, 31 and from Norwich, clocked a provisional 309.52 miles to take the win – and would perhaps have broken the national competition record but for a wrong turn.

Meanwhile, Gill’s distance of 276.38 miles gave her the win by around ten miles, a performance which gave her the belief that the women’s competition record is within her grasp.

“I just wasn’t paying attention which was annoying, if I had been following the marshals I would’ve been OK,” said Skipper. “I definitely would’ve for the record if it wasn’t for that, my Garmin said I had done just short of 325 miles.”

And Gill said: “I was also aiming for the competition record which obviously I didn’t get, but having done my first 12-hour I now know it’s achievable for me.”

Elsewhere, many events were postponed or cancelled because of high winds on Saturday, with just the GTR Return to Life 10 in Scotland surviving Saturday’s gales.

Host club rider Douglas Watson took a clear victory by over a minute with 18-55, while Patricia Baird (Ecosse Performance Cycling Coaching) took the women’s win with 23-33.

Sunday’s event included a clutch of 50-mile time trials, including the Medway Velo 50 in Kent where Nic Fennell (Thanet RC) took the win with his brother Chris absent through illness.

Nic’s time of 1-46-07 gave him the overall win, while Tracy Wilkinson-Begg (Folkestone Velo) was quickest female with 2-19-00.

In Essex Paul Hart (Southend Wheelers) continued to build his form with victory in the Colchester Rovers 50, while Melissa Dowell (Braintree Velo) comfortably won the women’s event.

Hart clocked 1-48-48 to win by almost three minutes from Timothy Chilvers (Maldon & Dist CC), while Dowell’s time of 2-13-28 gave her eighth overall and best female by around seven minutes over the course near Colchester.

In Oxfordshire Dan Blake snatched victory by just five seconds from team-mate Malcolm Rose in the Oxonian CC 50, while Frankie Snare (Mickey Cranks CC) dominated the women’s event.

A home club rider, Blake clocked 1-51-54 to win by just five seconds and lead a 1-2-3 for Oxonian CC with Malcolm Rose second and Graham Winstone third.

And Snare’s time of 2-07-18 gave her the win in the women’s category by over a minute from Didcot Phoenix CC Emily McLoughlin.

In Gwent Anna Morris and Tom Ward (both AeroLab Ward WheelZ) secured the Welsh Senior 10-Mile Championship titles on Sunday.

25-year-old Ward covered the course near Abergavenny in 18-48 to take the title by 20 seconds from Lee Perrott (Cycle Specific), while 24-year-old Morris clocked 21-22 to be crowned women’s champion by 27 seconds from Welsh 25-mile champion Stephanie Post (Team Bottrill).

And in East Yorkshire Philip Graves (VC York) and Fiona Sharp (Team Swift) were crowned Yorkshire 10-Mile Champions after the title race near Gilberdyke.

Graves clocked 20-04 which was good enough for victory by 17 seconds from Team Sportslab rider Bevan Jones, while Sharp’s time of 22-47 gave her the women’s win by almost a minute from Hannah Bayes (Liv AWOL).

At the Finsbury Park CC 25, Ross Clarke (TMG Horizon) covered the Tempsford course in Bedfordshire in 51-17 to beat brother Luke into second spot by 1-21, while quickest female was Heather Mayer (CC London) with 57-37.

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission.

* See the individual event listings for more detailed reports on these and other time trials.