Elspeth Grace and Tom Hale were fastest female and male riders respectively as the Ely and District CC hardriders 25-mile time trial kicked off the new season in Cambridgeshire on Sunday morning.

Despite strong winds the riders were thankful not to see any of the heavy rain which hit other areas of the country, with temperatures around five degrees.

21-year-old Cambridge University CC rider Tom Hale proved quickest with a time of 58-08, taking the overall victory by just ten seconds from Ben Beynon (ROTOR Race Team), with Joris Witstok clocking 58-32 for third and forming part of the winning team with his Cambridge University CC colleagues Hale and Joseph Adlam-Cook who was fourth overall.

And in the women’s event former Cambridge University CC rider and now Welwyn Wheeler, 22-year-old Elspeth Grace clocked 1-07-02 for the win by just over two minutes. Zoe Burrell (Cambridge Univ CC) was second in 1-09-10, with Cindy Beynon (ROTOR Race Team) taking a second podium for their family with third in 1-09-18.

Ford CC’s Peter Tibbitts took the prize for the best veteran on standard with a time of 1-09-03 giving him an improvement of 5-20, while Spalding CC’s Neil Palmer took second in that category and James Wood of West Suffolk Wheelers third.

21-year-old Hale was quickest Espoir with Adlam-Cook second, while the road bike prize went to their team-mate at Cambridge University CC James Cummings in 1-00-25.

An occasional time trial rider, Hale last tasted victory back in May when he formed one half of the winning duo at the Victoria CC two-up 10.2 alongside Jack Kellam. Also last season he placed fourth in the King’s Lynn CC 10, and was 26th overall at the BUCS 25-Mile Championship in April.

Elspeth Grace is a more regular time trial rider, and last season she placed 18th in the National 10-Mile Championships as well as 25th in the National 25-Mile Championships.

She is hoping to next be in time trial action in the North Road CC hardriders 25-mile event in two weeks.

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

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