Jen McMahon (Jadan-Vive le Velo) and John Bowman (Muckle CC) were fastest female and male riders at a windy Gosforth Road Club 12-mile time trial near Stamfordham in Northumberland on Sunday.

McMahon clocked 32-41 for the course despite challenging conditions, which was enough for victory by just seven seconds from Blaydon CC rival Louise Burnie with 32-48, while the final podium spot in the women’s category went to Alnwick CC’s Celia Mitchie with 35-54.

Bowman led a one-two for Muckle CC with his time of 27-17 being 25 seconds better than club-mate Darren Robson, while Team Kirkley Cycles’ Zach Haigh was third with 27-56.

Conditions were very blustery with the threat of showers hanging overhead all morning – riders had to hang on tight to their bikes in the very strong winds.

Everyone thankfully heeded the warnings of taking it easy on the fast descent from the quarry (half way around the course) in order to not fall foul of sudden side winds blowing through gaps in the hedgerow. Some times might have been a little down, but everyone got back safely.

“It was pretty choppy out there today with some heavy cross-winds but I was confident enough with a disc wheel on the back and a tri-spoke on the front of my bike,” said Bowman, who was winning his first ever open time trial.

“There was a strong head-wind on the back section, but as soon as you turned to head back the tail-wind made the going really fast. I dropped my chain on the run-in to Fenwick and had to jump off the bike to get it back on which caused a bit of panic.

“I’ve had a bit of a disjointed season. I’ve been ill with Covid and when I got back to racing, a couple of TTs had to be cancelled due to poor weather so hoping to make the most of those remaining before the hill climb season starts.”

And fastest female Jen McMahon said: “The weather proved to be a formidable opponent with the wind testing my control over the bike and some rain making the course slightly slippery. Nonetheless, I remained focused and I knew once I hit Matfen, I could enjoy the tailwind home.

“I was surprised to hear that I had taken the win today as Louise Burnie and I have been doing very close times all season and up until today, Louise had always been quicker. I won the last event on this course so was hopeful I could do a quick time, but knew it would be close.  I’m super chuffed with the result today.”

Simon Gibbs of Reifen Racing took the road bike win with a time of 29:35, while Celia Mitchie of Alnwick CC took the road bike win for the females with a ride time of 35:54.

Results:

Pos      Name   Club    Time

1          John Bowman Muckle Cycle Club     27:17

2          Darren Robson            Muckle Cycle Club     27:42

3          Zach Haigh     Team Kirkley Cycles  27:56

4          Calum Gibb    Deeside Thistle CC     28:19

5          Peter Stokoe    Reifen Racing 28:24

6          Jonathan Cairns           Muckle Cycle Club     28:31

7          Jemil Tokdemir           Team ASL-Bolton       28:50

8          Russ Richardson         Zurbaran Racing         29:13

9          Harry Walker   Revolver Racing         29:22

10        Simon Gibbs   Reifen Racing 29:35

11        Colin Atkinson            Muckle Cycle Club     29:47

12        Lee Ridden      Reifen Racing 30:07

13        Simon Crisp    Gosforth RC   30:08

14        Andrew Ratsey           Velo Culture    30:21

15        Damon Devine            Reifen Racing 30:25

16        Guillaume Zoppi         North Tyneside Riders CC      30:27

17        David Linsley  Tyne & Wear Fire & Rescue Service CC       30:31

18        Mark Herbert  Derwentside CC         30:53

19        Adam Harrison            Barnesbury CC           30:59

20        John Davidson Reifen Racing 31:20

21        Brian Johnson Reifen Racing 31:27

22        Tim Nichol      Blaydon CC    31:32

23        Scott Walton    Tyne Tri           31:46

24        Tom Campbell Muckle Cycle Club     31:49

25        Ian Gallon       North Tyneside Riders CC      31:50

26        Jen McMahon Jadan Vive Le Velo     32:41

27        Tom Guy         Sunderland Clarion     32:44

28        Louise Burnie Blaydon CC    32:48

29        Keith Sibbald  Zeus CRT        32:53

29        Neil Fellows    Blaydon CC    32:53

31        Mason Bulfin  Manilla Cycling          32:57

31        Paul Hague      Gosforth RC   32:57

33        Paul Robson    Protech Velo    33:08

34        David Ballantyne        EMC Cycling  33:14

35        Andy Delaney Northumbria Police C.C.        33:20

36        Howie Buckingham    Allen Valley Velo        33:27

37        Peter Darnell   South Shields Velo Cycling Club       33:51

38        Paul Watson    Elysium Kalas Race Team      34:32

39        Alex Mitchell  Blaydon CC    34:55

40        Paul Dobbie    Gosforth RC   35:13

41        Steve Rust       Team Trident   35:33

42        Celia Michie    Alnwick Cycling Club            35:54

43        Jennifer Holland         Gosforth RC   36:11

44        Ray Bell          Derwentside CC         37:29

45        Barry Holyoak South Shields Velo Cycling Club       37:36

46        Clive Rae        Gosforth RC   38:05

47        Phil Travers     Derwentside CC         40:03

48        Dharinni Kesavan       Gosforth RC   42:02

49        Frank Devlin   South Shields Velo Cycling Club       45:15

            Susanne Stephenson    Derwentside CC         DNS

            Justine Norman           Velo Culture    APOLS

            Joshua Hodgson          GS Metro         APOLS

            Peter Graves    Reifen Racing APOLS

            Phil Hall          Velo Culture    APOLS

            James Clay      Gosforth RC   APOLS

            Chris Burns     Reifen Racing DNS

            Steve Walton   Racing Metro 15         APOLS

            Harris Hall      Velo Culture    APOLS