Joy Payne and Andrew Meilak were fastest veterans on age adjusted times at the VTTA 30-Mile Kent Group Championships event near Hamstreet on Sunday morning.

Meilak (VeloRefined Rule 5) covered the course in 1-04-56 which gave him a winning age adjusted time of 1-00-36, just over two minutes better than Nick Wilson (Rye and District Wheelers), while third was Chris Jones (Bynea CC), another three and a half minutes off the pace on age adjusted times.

Joy Payne (VTTA London and Home Counties) was fifth overall on age adjusted time, but the fastest female by some distance. She covered the Q30/3 course in 1-24-28 for an age adjusted time of 1-06-54, nearly seven minutes better than Rebecca Wilson (Rye and District Wheelers).

After his victory, Meilak commented: “I was satisfied with the ride as when I started, it really felt like jumping into a frozen lake, such was the wind chill.

“In the end I was only one second from my course PB despite both average heart rate and power being stunted by the arctic conditions.

“All the riders who completed the event demonstrated their resilience. As for the marshalls, they were the true heroes standing in such conditions. Roll on summer!”

On actual fastest times the quickest was Thanet Road Club’s Nic Fennell in 1-02-37, 3-23 faster than Samuel Robinson (Ashford Wheelers) with Freddie Allinson (Clapham Chasers) another 53 seconds back in third.

Fourth fastest overall was Alex Clay (Team Bottrill) with 1-07-27 which made her the fastest female by quite some margin from Maria Sparks (Ashford Wheelers), while quickest road biker was Paul Burrows (Thanet RC) in 1-11-10.

It was a cold morning on the Hamstreet bypass with a slight breeze to start which increased as the event went on and offered some help on the first leg from Brenzett to Brooklands but made it harder on the way back to Ashford.

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