George Fox and Bethany Spencer proved fastest at the Mark Bell Memorial hilly 20-mile time trial staged by Kettering CC in Northamptonshire on Sunday.

A cold north easterly breeze combined with light rain for the early-season competition, which did little to deter riders determined to get their season off to a good start.

Fox took the win despite his pre-season preparations being disrupted by Covid, injury and a sinus infection. His time of 43-49 was 1-19 quicker than the next fastest rider in Oliver Hurdle (Stolen Goat Race Team), while Antony Brown (George Fox Cycling Solutions) was third, almost four minutes behind Fox’s pace.

The promoting club’s own Bethany Spencer narrowly missed out on the women’s course record with a time of 54-36, edging out Sophie Lee (Team Catenary) by 16 seconds, with third spot going to another Kettering CC rider Maria Gent with 1-00-31.

As well as securing the Mark Bell Memorial Trophy as fastest rider, Fox also won the Brian Charouneau Trophy for being the fastest rider from a Northamptonshire club.

Fox’s time shaved 1-26 from his previous winning time at this event when it was last held in 2020.

But despite the Mark Bell Memorial not being held last year, Fox was very much active in time trialling, securing seven open victories throughout the season and riding in the National 10, 25, 50 and 100 with his best performance in a national title race being eighth in the National 50-Mile Championships last August.

Spencer, 18 and from Desborough, placed fourth in the National Closed Circuit Championship junior event at Thruxton last October and third in the National Junior 25-Mile Championship in August. She also showed her versatility with an impressive sixth place in last season’s National Women’s 12-Hour Championships where she covered 221.66 miles!

* 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