Mark Smith and Laura Bartlett were the respective men’s and women’s overall winners at the Southern Counties CU 50 on Sunday.

There were fairly cool conditions throughout the race on the rolling course taking in Ashington and Steyning, with a light breeze towards the end helping the riders a little towards the end near Dial Post.

Smith (Crawley Wheelers) was last to get his race underway and the defending champion from the last two years was in spectacular form to set a new course record.

The 43-year-old from Lindfield, East Sussex, stopped the clock in a blistering one hour 48.24, a winning margin of over four minutes.

“I was very happy with the ride today,” Smith said, “I won last year in the mid 1:52s so I am pleased with that.”

“It was one of those days where everything felt easy, and those days don’t happen very often over the course of a season!”

Smith feels that he gets better over the longer distances and this result came on the back sixth-place finish on Saturday at the Bossard Wheelers 10, but he has his eyes on the longer distances in the coming months.

“I am building up to hit top form in time for the National 50 and 100, and then I am doing the 12 hour nationals for the first time in August.

"I’ll see how that goes and probably look to go on holiday after that!” Smith added.

Smith was also part of the winning Crawley Wheelers team on Sunday as along with Paul Batten and Alan Yule, the combined time of 6:01.52 was enough to take the team prize.

Second place overall went the Stephen Williamson (A3crg), whilst third place went to Matt Peel (Redhill CC) with a time of 1:56.12.

This was Peel’s first ride over the 50-mile distance, earning him the novice cup as well as a place on the podium, a time that may would have been even quicker if not for having to stop and retrieve his visor.

The fastest woman on the day was Laura Bartlett from A3crg.

The 34-year-old from Godalming took the prize stopping the clock in a time of two hours seven minutes 44 seconds.

The veteran on target prize went to fifth place David Shepherd (GS Stella), whose factored time was a sizeable +22.49.

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

Results:

1. Mark Smith (Crawley Wheelers)    1:48.24

2. Stephen Williamson (A3crg)           1:52.56

3. Matt Peel (Redhill CC)       1:56.12

4. Tom Glandfield (Lewes Wanderers)          1:57.43

5. David Shepherd (GS Stella)           1:57.47

6. Conor Clancy (Brighton Excelsior)            1:59.16

7. Kevin Plummer (South Downs Bikes)        1:59.20

8. Dale Lush (Kinston Phoenix RC)   1:59.35

9. Aaron Kneebone (Royal Navy & Royal Marines CA)       1:59.50

10. Robert Rollings (Lewes Wanderers)         2:00.17

Women: Laura Bartlett (A3crg)          2:07.44

Vets on std: David Shepherd +22.49

Team: Crawley Wheelers (Smith, Paul Batten, Alan Yule)    6:01.52