Tom Portsmouth and Anneleen Bosma were victorious at the East Sussex CA 10-mile time trial staged near East Hoathly on Saturday morning.

Portsmouth, the 19-year-old who rides with Charlotteville CC, clocked 20-04 to take top honours by 23 seconds from runner-up Josh Copley (TBW23 Stuart Hall Cycling) while veteran Mark Smith (Crawley Wheelers) was just one second further back in third place.

And Bosma, the 32-year-old Bianchi Dama rider, covered the G10/87 course in 22-26 which was also 23 seconds better than veteran and second female Sally Turner (trainSharp), while Southborough & District Wheelers’ Pip Jenkins was third, around a minute further back.

The popular course takes riders from a start on the East Hoathly bypass and southwards on the A22 through Whitesmith and Golden Cross, heading for the turn just after Lower Dicker where the road meets the Hailsham bypass. After heading north, the finish point is just beyond the start.

This was Portsmouth’s first open time trial win of the season having secured ninth in the Kingston Wheelers 13.6-mile event the weekend before. He will next be aiming for glory at the Paceline RT sporting 15.4-mile event on May 9.

The in-form youngster wasn’t without victories last year despite Covid, having won the Kingston Phoenix RC 10 and Berkhamsted CC 9 and places second in the ESCA 15 back in March 2020.

Bosma, who was originally from the Netherlands but now lives in London, was sixth in the National Closed Circuit Championships in 2019. This was her second ride of 2021, having placed fifth at a competitive Farnborough and Camberley CC 25-mile event a week earlier.

In other categories the best of the junior riders was Harry Ives (trainSharp Development Team in 21-11, which was 12 seconds better than second junior Lance Childs. Pick of the juveniles was a3crg’s Zach Walters in 23-31.

While Portsmouth, Copley and Smith secured spots on the virtual podium, there were some other fast times just outside the top three.

Matthew Smith (Team TMC) was fourth with 20-31, missing out on third by just three seconds. Fifth was trainSharp’s Howard Shaw in 20-41, while Robert Durnford (Paceline RT) clocked 20-57 for sixth.

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