There were some close battles for the win at the a3crg 25-mile time trial in Hampshire on Sunday morning, but in the end it was Jennifer George (HUUB-WattShop) and Chris McNamara (Sigma Sports-Cannondale) who prevailed.

The pair were both tipped for the win by national ranking system provider Spindata, but their times were both down on predictions with a Northerly wind and cold conditions early in the morning on the A3 near Greatham.

It did stay dry and warmed up as the day went on, but McNamara had to be content with a time of 49-05 which gave him the win by 21 seconds from Alastair Luxford (Full Gas RT), while brother Simon McNamara (Sigma Sports-Cannondale) was third with 49-43.

Similarly, George’s time of 55-13 was slightly down on where Spindata thought she would be, but it was still impressive and gave the course record holder the win by 17 seconds from team-mate Sally Turner, while Anya Tamplin (Loughborough) was third, 1-01 behind George’s time.

“I was hoping I’d be there or there abouts for the win,” said Chris McNamara. “My brother [Simon] is going well and Alastair is strong so I thought it would be close.

“There was a strong northerly wind so you had to go out hard and try and recover a bit in the tailwind sections so a real over / under effort.

“I’m off to Majorca next week for a friend’s wedding, the following weekend I’m racing in Belgium then back to TTs in the build up to the national 50.”

The promoting club of a3crg won the women’s team prize with Sarah Matthews, Claire Emons and Kirsty McSeveney, while top men’s trio was the trainSharp outfit of Howard Shaw, Richard Gifford and John McDonald.

This win means that the only time this season that Chris hasn’t won an event he rode was at the Sussex CA 10 earlier this month, where he was a non-finisher.

Apart from that, he has won the Sussex C two-up 28.5-mile event with Barnabas Purbrook, the Crawley Wheelers 4.6-miler, the opening round of the Merlin Cycles Classic Series in March, the Sussex CA 25-miler in March and VC St Raphael 16.4-mile event in February.

The win for George continues a great season so far for the Scot. She was victorious at rounds one and four of the Merlin Cycles Classic Series and aims to ride enough rounds to chase after the overall title, and also was fastest female at the Gravesend CC 25 last weekend where her impressive time of 55-42 placed her fifth overall including all the men in the field.

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

Results:

Men:

1 Chris McNamara Sigma Sports-Cannondale     49:05

2 Alastair Luxford Full Gas Racing Team             49:26

3 Simon McNamara Sigma Sports-Cannondale   49:43

4 Ben Williams GS Mossa                                      49:47

5 Neil Harrison Southbourgh & Dist Wheeler       49:48

Women:

1 Jennifer George HUUB WattShop    55:13

2 Sally Turner HUUB WattShop          55:30

3 Anya Tamplin Loughborough           56:14

4 Claire Emons a3crg                        59:39

5 Sarah Mathews a3crg                   1:01:37

Women’s Team: a3crg (Sarah Mathews, Claire Emons and Kirsty McSeveney)

Men’s Team: trainSharp (Howard Shaw, Richard Gifford and John McDonald)

Road Bike: Steve Skinner VC St Raphael 1:04:46