Roadworks and rain didn’t stop the Colchester Rovers CC 48-mile sporting time trial from going ahead, and it was Gill Carter and Ben Newman who proved victorious in the open and women’s categories respectively.
North Essex Velo veteran Newman clocked 1-57-45 to take the victory by 3-26 from Espoir Alfie Salmon (Hart Performance Coaching) while third was Maldon and District CC’s George Wakefield with 2-02-51.
Carter took the women’s prize with a time of 2-19-06, the Essex Roads CC veteran being just 18 seconds quicker than runner-up Rachel Halamandres (Basildon CC).
“It was a great event, definitely a sporting course!” said women’s winner Carter.
“These are my local roads I know well. Conditions on the first lap were terrible with heavy rain and standing water, but it cleared up and ended dry.
“It was a very average ride from me, but I was pleased to take first place (by a very small margin).
“It’s great to be taking part in the SPOCO SE after several years off. The organisers work hard to keep these events running, more riders should have a go, it’s a very friendly social scene.”
On road bikes victory went to Shane Jarvis (Colchester Rovers CC) in 2-10-42 while not far behind was John Paduano (Southend Wheelers) in 2-11-13 and Marc Brant (Basildon CC) in third.
The event was rescheduled and relocated twice because of roadworks, and in fact new traffic lights were being erected while riders were on the course, but the event still went ahead on the E22/48 course which took riders from Birch to Heybridge and Wigborough and included two climbs of the steep Layer Breton hill.
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