Southend Whs 50 (SPOCO SE)

Edward Renwick and Lisa Hurrell were fastest male and female riders respectively at the Southend Wheelers 50-mile time trial in Essex on Sunday morning.

Renwick, the 44-year-old Oxford City RC rider, secured the Norman Wells Trophy by virtue of his winning performance, clocking 1-57-43 to win by just over a minute. Athlon CC’s Michael Beaver took second with 1-58-57, while the only other rider to go under two hour was East London Velo’s Rob Chaplin with 1-59-50.

And in the women’s category Hurrell, the 40-year-old Maldon & District CC rider, covered the E21/50 course near Steeple in 2-13-53 to take the win by 5-20 from Jan Harvey (Southend Wheelers, while just five seconds further back in third was Bianca Broadbent (Birchfield CC).

With no South East SPOCO (Sporting Courses) competition this year entries generally were down as they have been in other events in the district, but there were still some good performances from the small field.

There was no wind and the forecast looked promising, and this was the case until the final 20 minutes when torrential rain caused all riders to get wet.

Prior to this performance Renwick’s previous best in 2021 was the eighth spot he secured in the New Forest CC 33-mile event in May, while he impressed in the Kent CA 100 four weeks ago where he was tenth.

He is next due to be in action in an open time trial on July 17 having entered the North Hampshire Road Club 10.

Hurrell’s time was almost 14 minutes quicker than the last time she rode this course back in 2018 and is her second open time trial victory of the season so far.

Having placed third in the Eastern Counties CA 50 at Cambourne in May, she was victorious prior to that in the Maldon and District CC 25-mile event on the same roads around Steeple that same month.

Earlier in the year, she was second in the East Anglian VTTA 25 in April, as well as fourth in the East Anglian VTTA 10 the week before.

The E21/50 course presents riders with several challenges. From a start to the north of Althorne, they head east to Tillingham before going up to the fringes of Bradwell on Sea on the B1021.

From there they turn back west through Steeple, Mayland and Latchingdon, where they loop back round and complete two more circuits before finishing the 50 miles near Mayland.

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

 

Results:

 

Men:

1. Edward Renwick (Oxford City RC)           1:57.43

2. Michael Beaver (Athlon CC)         1:58.57

3. Rob Chaplin (East London Velo)   1:59.50

4. Ian Braybrook (Basildon CC)         2:05.15

5. George Turner (VTTA London & Home Counties)           2:05.58

6. Peter Tibbitts (Ford CC)     2:11.45

 

Women:

1. Lisa Hurrell (Maldon & District CC)         2:13.53

2. Jan Harvey (Southend Wheelers)    2:19.13

3. Bianca Broadbent (Birchfield CC) 2:19.18