Leon West (CC Sudbury) and multiple national champion Hayley Simmonds (Team WNT Pro Cycling) were fastest male and female riders respectively as CC Sudbury staged their annual 22-mile Mad March hilly time trial in Suffolk on Sunday.

West clocked 50.23, beating his 2017 time in the same event by 38 seconds and giving him the win by just three seconds from veteran Stuart Fairweather, the Team Velovelocity rider who had to settle for second once again.

Third overall and fastest female was multiple national record holder and national champion Hayley Simmonds (Team WNT Pro Cycling) who clocked 50.52, making her the fastest female by a staggering 7-25 with the promoting club’s Mandy Bunn (CC Sudbury) taking second.

Lee Valley Youth CC’s Dexter Mansel-Thomas was the fastest junior in the field with a time of 55-55, which gave him the win by almost three minutes from Colchester Rovers CC youngster Jake Crossley.

The course takes riders on an anti-clockwise circuit starting just south of Lavenham and heading out through Great Waldingfield, then across to Newton and near Boxford before heading up the A1071 to near Hadleigh. It then heads back west through Monks Eleigh and Brent Eleigh and finishes just outside Lavenham once again.

For West, the win was the first open time trial victory of 2018 and comes after a successful 2017 which saw him race to victory in the Stowmarket and District 10 in September and the Orwell Velo 20 in June.

He is next due to race in the Stowmarket and District CC 20 on Easter Saturday.

It was Simmonds’ first appearance in an open time trial this season, but it won’t be the last. She has entered the first round of the Knight Composites Classic TT Series on Good Friday, March 30, where she took victory last season and went on to win the whole series.

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

Results:

1. Leon West (CC Sudbury)   50.23

2. Stuart Fairweather (Team Velovelocity)     50.26

3. Hayley Simmonds (Team WNT Pro Cycling)         50.52

4. Andrew Leggett (Team Velovelocity)         52.03

5. Neil Hughes (Velo Schils-Interbike)           52.08

=6. Robert Golding (Ely and Dist CC)          52.11

=6. Simon Daw (Velo Schils-Interbike)          52.11

8. Adrian Pettitt (Stowmarket & Dist CC)     53.36

9. Geoff Frost (Team Velovelocity)    53.47

10. Mark Lloyd (3T Racing)   54.17

Women:

1. Hayley Simmonds (Team WNT Pro Cycling)         50.52

2. Mandy Bunn (CC Sudbury)           58.17

3. Jennifer Smart (VC Norwich)         1:00.31

Juniors:

1. Dexter Mansel-Thomas (Lee Valley YCC) 55.55

2. Jake Crossley (Colchester Rovers CC)       58.52