Emsley overcomes abysmal conditions to win
Conditions for this event in Handcross were so bad that many riders couldn’t believe that it was going ahead.
But organisers said that they would run it as long as people wanted to ride and 44 did brave it, with 27 finishing.
Top of the pile was Mark Emsley of Team ASL who clocked a handy time of 56.20. Crawley Wheelers rider Mark Smith was second, 33 seconds down on Emsley in 56.53.
Dave Dent of GS Stella was third and top veteran, he completed in 58.06 with a +5.09 on his CTT target time.
At 7.15am, just as the event was about to start, a band of bad weather moved across the course and stayed in place to blight the entire duration of the contest. Ironically, it gave way to sunshine as soon as the last rider had completed the course.
Sarah Phelps of Crawley Wheelers took the women’s prize and the team prize went to GS Stella who had three riders in the top ten.
In addition to Dave Dent they were David Shepherd who stopped the clock at 59.30 – enough to place him second veteran – and Tony Reeves who finished ninth in 1:01.53. Their combined time was 2:59.28.
* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission.
Results:
1. Mark Emsley (Team ASL) 56.20
2. Mark Smith (Crawley Wheelers) 56.53
3. Dave Dent (GS Stella) 58.06
4. Howard Bailey (Blazing Saddles) 58.25
5. David Shepherd (GS Stella) 59.30
6. Kevin Plummer (South Downs Bikes) 1:01.40
7. Conor Clancy (Brighton Excelsior) 1:01.43
8. Dale Lush (Kingston Phoenix) 1:01.44
9. Tony Reeves (GS Stella) 1:01.53
10. Stu Nisbett (Crawley Wheelers) 1:01.58