Beacon Roads CC 39

Round two winner John Archibald (HUUB-WattShop) made it two in a row with victory at the third round of the Merlin Cycles Classic Series in Worcestershire, while Emma Bexson (Stratford CC) was quickest female on a time trial bike.

The event, staged by Beacon Roads CC, was the 75th anniversary edition of the classic Jack Clements Memorial which first took place in 1948. It was the third of six rounds of this year’s Merlin Cycles Series, which require riders to take part in four to qualify for the overall series.

Archibald clocked 1-27-10 in the time trial bike category to win comfortably by almost five minutes from team-mate Will Lowden, while last year’s event winner Richard Bussell (AeroCoach) had to settle for third this time.

Archibald’s time was an impressive new course record by over five minutes, beating Matt Bottrill’s previous best set in 2015 of 1-32-29. And Lowden and Bussell also proved faster than the previous course record.

And in the women’s time trial bike category last year’s event winner Bexson covered the course in 2-07-29 and was fastest female again, this time by 58 seconds from fellow veteran Sally Maitland (Ratae RC), with Lucy Bennett-Poole of the promoting Beacon Roads CC taking third.

“It’s not a course I’ve done before so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Archibald. “But it went well and it was a good day – dry, but a damp surface on the roads so you had to be careful on the corners.

“I wanted to get under 1-30 but didn’t know how realistic that was as I haven’t ridden the course before, so I’m really pleased with my time.

“I’ve got two rides in the Series now, so I’ve entered the next round near Peebles in Scotland and I will enter the round in Greystoke Forest in the Lake District, and hopefully will do well enough to go for the overall.”

And Bexson was similarly pleased with her performance: “I wasn’t as quick as last year, but I’m not as fit as I was then because I took longer off through the winter. I’m still pleased with my ride though and I like riding the hillier more sporting courses.

“Conditions were better this year, it was dry and there wasn’t much wind, only a headwind towards the end of the first section.”

In other categories Nick Latimer (Team Lifting Gear Products) was fastest veteran on actual time with 1-44-57, while fastest veteran on standard was Mark Sanders (Mid Devon CC) whose time of 1-51-24 gave him a plus of 3-59.

The University of Birmingham CC’s Gerhard Cristin Moldansky was fastest in the road bikes category with a time of 1-41-06, 43 seconds better than runner-up James Foggensteiner (Manchester BC).

Celia Brown (Beacon Roads CC) was quickest female on a road bike in 1-57-59 which actually made her the fastest female across the categories, while top junior on a road bike was Ferryhill Wheelers’ Sophie Heighton in 2-25-37. Top Paracyclist was Ben Hetherington (Ferryhill Wheelers) with 2-04-23 and a handicapped time of 1-48-15.

The course begins at Great Witley and heads south to Martley, before turning east and looping through Hallow, Holt Heath and Little Witley. They then continue west bound through Upper Sapey and head down to the outskirts of Bromyard and on to Knightwick, before turning back north to the finish near Great Witley.

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

* A gallery of images from this event is available here