David Halliday (Team Bottrill) and Wendey Clarke (GreenlightPT) battled to victories in the men’s and women’s events respectively in the Essex Roads CC 25.

Halliday recorded a time of 53 minutes and 48 seconds on the sporting course to take his fifth open time trial victory of the season.

The Bank Holiday Monday event saw riders start and finish in Norton Heath before heading out westerly on the A414 out to Chipping Ongar.

Competitors then retraced their steps back up the A414 easterly passed the start/finish before continuing to Chelmsford with the second turn coming at the half-way distance.

Riders then climbed back out past the start/finish before completing the first leg out to Chipping Ongar for the second time and finishing on their return.

Despite the sporting terrain Halliday still recorded an average speed of over 27.8 miles per hour.

The 38-year-old also won the ECCA 10 in June along with the Hitchin Nomads CC 25, VC Norwich 25 and Velo Club Baracchi 10 the previous month.

William Taylor (Go Fast Turn Left) finished second in 55-29, while a close battle for third saw Alex Purcell (CC Sudbury) stop the clock in 56-24 which was just 15 seconds quicker than veteran Rob Young (Shaftesbury CC) (56-39).

Spindata had predicted a win for Halliday in 53-54 from those starters with Taylor forecasted to be close behind, but Purcell moved up considerable from his predicted ninth to take a podium spot.

The quickest team were Team Vision Silverhook with Murat Ozdenya (59-17), Matthew Saunders (1-00-08) and Richard O’Rourke (1-00-10) all contributing.

On her first ever open time trial outing veteran rider Clarke won the women’s event in a time of one hour, five minutes and 27 seconds – almost two minutes clear of her nearest competitor.

Fellow veteran rider Jan Harvey (Southend Wheelers) finished second in 1-07-23, while Julia Freeman (Easterley Road Club) rounded off the podium positions.

The road bike competition saw a close battle with Phillip Brant (Southend Wheelers) coming out on top in 1-08-16 which was 13 seconds quicker than fellow veteran Damien Foy (6AM Cycling), while Marc Brant (Southend Wheelers) finished third (1-13-19).

There was also a prize for nearest the average of 1-04-43 which was won by Peter Tibbitts (Ford CC) in 1-04-36.

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