Alice Lethbridge and Tim McEvoy ran out winners at the Eastern Counties CA 100-mile time trial in Cambridgeshire on Sunday morning.

Lethbridge, the 34-year-old Drag2Zero rider from Epsom in Surrey, clocked 3-44-22 to win the women’s event by almost nine minutes despite recent health problems threatening to curtail her season.

Tim McEvoy (Lanhydrock Wheelers) was the fastest male rider, the Bodmin-based 41-year-old clocking a time of 3-24-41 to win by almost two minutes from former 50-mile national record holder Paul Hart (Southend Wheelers).

Neil Lauder led Arctic Aircon RT to a new national team competition record with a time of 3-27-08. That gave him third spot overall, while he was joined in the winning trio by Nick Clarke and Jonathan Shubert.

Their combined time of 10-25-56 beat the previous national record set two years ago by GS Metro by just 14 seconds!

While Lethbridge took the win convincingly, there was a closer battle for second spot. Angela Carpenter (a3crg) was second with 3-53-16, 30 seconds ahead of third-placed Jackie Field (CC Ashwell).

A qualifying event for the British Best All-Rounder, the ECCA event had attracted many riders who are targeting the season-long BBAR competition, including the Arctic Tacx team who are going for the BBAR team category.

Pre-race favourite Marcin Bialoblocki (NOPINZ) who had been targeting the national competition record was disqualified after going off course near the A11 and A14 junction and performing a dangerous manoeuvre. He finished in 3-23-53, a time which will not stand.

“It was a bit windy here,” said McEvoy. “But in Devon and Cornwall we’re used to it being proper windy, so it’s difficult for me to gauge how much the conditions affected everyone else.

“I wanted to do a 3-19-59 and go over 30mph, but it’s a personal best by about six minutes so I can’t really complain.”

And Neil Lauder, the fastest rider in the Arctic Tacx team who set a new national competition record, said: “The record was something we knew what it was, but our main goal is the BBAR team prize. But to get comp record is amazing.

“My ride went better than I expected. I’ve only ridden four 100s, and I’ve never paced them well and gone out too hard. But the weather here wasn’t too bad, and with the temperature warming up and traffic coming out later on it all helped. At time I was hitting 36mph, so I barely had to pedal at times.”

Meanwhile, Lethbridge is taking her season one event at a time, but is still getting good results having adjusted her nutrition and taken some time off.

“I had been feeling quite good this week, so I thought I could do a decent ride,” she said.

“My position has been changed a bit recently as last season I kept getting cramps in my left leg, so all in all I’ve got to be pleased with my ride, even though I didn’t break my own competition record.”

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

* A full gallery of images from this event by Kimroy Photography is available here

Results:

1. Tim McEvoy (Lanhydrock Wheelers)        3:24.41

2. Paul Hart (Southend Wheelers)      3:26.36

3. Neil Lauder (Arctic Aircon RT)         3:27.08

4. Charles Mitchell (a3crg)      3:28.18

5. Nick Clark (Arctic Aircon RT)    3:28.38

6. Ben Stowe (Hemel Hempstead CC)           3:28.42

7. Jonathan Shubert (Arctic Aircon RT)      3:30.10

8. Darren Yarwood (Vive le Velo)     3:31.17

9. Matt Senter (Peterborough CC)      3:32.43

10. Tom Thornely (Buxton CC)          3:34.03

Team: Arctic Aircon RT (Neil Lauder, Nick Clarke, Jonathan Shubert) 10:25.56 (new comp record)

Women:

1. Alice Lethbridge (Drag2zero)         3:44.22

2. Angela Carpenter (a3crg)    3:53.16

3. Jackie Field (CC Ashwell)  3:53.46

4. Becky Taylor (Wisbech Wheelers)  3:57.58

5. Chris Murray (Army Cycling)         3:58.18