Hounslow & District Good Friday 25

 

By Chris Lovibond

 

Hounslow & District Good Friday 25

 

Hounslow & District Wheelers Good Friday Club 25 mile Time Trial.

 

Nic Stagg was a confident and convincing winner of this opening event of the Hounslow’s club TT season. His time of 57 minutes 34 seconds was exactly two and a half minutes too fast for his nearest rival, Damian Poulter, who recorded 1.00.04.
 

 
Nic commented after the finish that he had felt good beforehand and that his time, although not quite his best for this course, was up to his expectations. We expect to see more good results from Mr. Stagg this season, since he has clearly maintained excellent form.
 
The next three places were only separated by eleven seconds: in third place was Stuart Stow with 1.00.11, and Paul Holdsworth in fourth position with 1.00.15. All these were good performances.
 
Damian Poulter looks set to improve on what he has done in recent years. Stuart Stow could be said to be following a classic path to time trial success by combining increased mileage with competitive rides on the track. He is now often doing a 54 mile round trip to work and last Monday (14th April) won the 20 Kilometre ‘B’ group race at Reading track. Paul Holdsworth maintains his own high mileage and was unlucky not to attain a better placing here.
 
However, the most notable ride of the morning came from a new member – Robert Baylis who took the first handicap prize by a wide margin; his time of 1.02.55 also gave him sixth place on scratch. Robert tells me that although he has done some mountain bike racing and is a triathlete, he has almost no experience of time trialling, so for him to achieve such a result on this slow course is little short of sensational. It is a well known phenomenon that the great majority of riders take several years to attain their peak results in this discipline, and since Baylis is, at 33 years of age, still relatively young there is no knowing where he may go.
 
The best of the non Hounslow riders was Stuart Auckland (Maidenhead) with 1.00.08, almost a full minute clear of Martin Winter (Twickenham) 1.01.03.

 

 
The event was very well supported with a start sheet of fifty eight competitors, reflecting the general rise in the popularity of cycle sport. The Hounslow provided twenty three riders, an improvement on recent years. The hard working organiser was Graham Davis, while Trevor Gilbert was the expert timekeeper. The course was the usual West of Windsor.
 
Result: (Hounslow riders only)
 
1. Nic Stagg 57.34
2. Damian Poulter 1.00.04
3. Stuart Stow 1.00.11
4. Paul Holdsworth 1.00.15
5. Stuart Hewlins 1.02.12
6. Richard Baylis 1.02.55
7. Andrew Caldwell 1.04.37
8. Brent Skinner 1.04.52
9. Rob Gilmour 1.04.58
10. Paul Innes 1.06.17
11. Tom Dieth 1.06.20
12. Paul Buckley 1.08.52
13. Jeff Marshall 1.09.01
14. Jo Wells 1.10.52 (Best Lady)
15. Bruce Mc Michael 1.11.56.
16. Jill Bartlett 1.12.12
17. Neil Ferrelly 1.13.15
18. Richard Philp 1.14.00
19. David George 1.14.13
20 Laura Baylis 1.18.02.

 
Hounslow & District Wheelers