Marcel Schubert (Darlington Cycling Club) continued his emphatic form taking a sixth victory of the season in the VTTA North/Hartlepool CC 50, while Karen Taylor (Team Sportslab) won the women’s event.

Schubert, from Durham, was competing in his first open 50 of the season and clocked a time of one hour, 41 minutes and 22 seconds – over seven minutes clear of his nearest rival.

The 40-year-old finished 15th in the National 50 last year but took over five minutes off his time of 1-47-03 on that occasion.

The T502/3 saw riders complete two laps of 25 miles with riders competing on the A19 between Crathorne and Knayton in North Yorkshire.

Riders were treated to a tailwind on the first of the two laps heading south to Knayton before battling a headwind back.

However, by the second lap the wind direction had changed making the outward leg slower.

After also winning the Stockton Whs CC and Border City Whs CC 25-mile events this month Schubert showed his improvement over the longer distance on this occasion.

Veteran riders dominated the top three placings with Duncan Mullier (Harrogate Nova CC) leading the battle behind taking a season-best second place in 1-48-34 some 16 seconds faster than Rob Pears (Bath Cycling Club) who finished in 1-48-50.

Experience was invaluable on a tough day as Taylor showed in the women’s event clocking a winning time of 2-10-51.

The 55-year-old from Baildon finished second in the Hartlepool CC/VTTA North 25 last month over one lap of the same course but paced her effort to perfection over the longer distance.

Taylor recorded an average speed of over 22.92 miles per hour to beat Claire Jessop (Otley CC) into second by 45 seconds and Sarah Foulds (Velo Culture) was third woman.

“The first leg of 12.5 miles was super-fast so my hopes were high,” said Taylor.

“On the way back into the headwind I was surprised how hard it was. To 25 miles everything was going well but I thought my time was a little bit down for where I wanted.

“From the turn I expected a super-fast tailwind again, but we didn’t quite get it. In parts it was fast but the wind direction was changing.

“In the last 10 miles I just emptied the tank.”

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