The Drag2Zero team of Kate Allan, Alice Lethbridge and Rachael Elliott broke the women’s 50-mile team competition record in spectacular fashion at the Shaftesbury CC 50 on Saturday.

The previous record had been in place since 1997, held by the Swaledale CC trio of Jill Reames, Kathy Staff and Anne Plant.

Despite windy conditions at the E2/50c course at Six Mile Bottom on Saturday afternoon, Allan, Lethbridge and Elliott combined for a time for a 5:21.38, obliterating the 20-year record by a staggering 25 minutes and six seconds.

It was an impressive display by all three women, with 32-year-old Allan from Maidenhead taking the overall women’s prize with an individual time of 1:45.36.

Newly crowned National 100-mile champion Lethbridge finished third in the standings, the pair separated by Anna Turvey (Tyneside Vagabonds) who came second.

In the men’s competition, GS Metro rider Carl Donaldson took the honours with a winning time of 1:36.13.

The 36-year old from Northumberland had a winning margin of 24 seconds, adding the triumph to successes Gosforth RC 25 and Barnesbury CC 3-up earlier this month.

Matthew Smith (Team Bottrill/HSS Hire) was second with Donaldson’s teammate Danny Grieves completing the podium.

Donaldson and Grieves made up two thirds of the winning men’s team as well, as along with veteran Ben Lane, they claimed victory over Team Bottrill by six minutes.

Donaldson did not have the fastest time of the day however, that honour went to the tandem of Mark Arnold (CC Desiragear) and Glenn Taylor (Shorter Rochford RT) who clocked 1:35.02 for their fifty miles.

Despite the wind making fast times hard to come by, 33 riders of the 68 finishers posted their best times over the fifty mile distance.

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

Results:

Men:

1. Carl Donaldson (GS Metro)           1:36.13

2. Matthew Smith (Team Bottrill/HSS Hire)  1:36.37

3. Danny Grieves (GS Metro) 1:37.22

4. Colin Ward (Essex Roads CC)       1:37.41

5. Stuart Travis (Team Bottrill/HSS Hire)      1:38.00

6. Richard Bideau (Pendle Forest CC)           1:38.22

7. Liam Maybank (Twickenham CC) 1:38.31

8. Peter Harrison (AS Test Team)       1:38.41

9. Mark Nulty (Kinder Velo CC)       1:38.54

10. Pete Dyson (East London Velo)   1:43.04

Women:

1. Kate Allan (Drag2zero)      1:45.36

2. Anna Turvey (Tyneside Vagabonds CC)   1:47.02

3. Alice Lethbridge (Drag2zero)         1:47.30

Veteran: Richard Bideau (Pendle Forest CC)

Men’s Team: GS Metro (Donaldson, Grieves, Lane) 4:58.18

Women’s Team: Drag2Zero (Allan, Lethbridge, Elliott)       5:21.38 (Team Comp Record)