Josh Wallis retained his Spalding Cycling Club ten mile time trial league title with victory at the final round of the season.
The ever-impressive Wallis clocked 23.31mins to edge Neil Palmer into second place by just 13 seconds at the Pode Hole course last Tuesday night.
Riders were lucky once again in that it was a dry sunny evening with the usual stiff breeze from the west down the Delph.
In the absence of Keiran Buffham, who has managed a couple of wins over current champion Wallis, the main challenge came from Palmer (23.44mins).
Frazer Wallis (24.24mins) pipped Adam Ellis (24.25mins) for third spot by the narrowest of margins, followed by Andrew Gurney (26.36mins), Simon Wright (28.06mins), Derek Chamberlain (29.32mins), Barry Drew (29.40mins) and Brian Johnson (30.51mins).
Guests Tom Wright (Team on Form) and James Davey (VTTA) finished in 25.04mins and 28.19mins respectively.
- Spalding CC’s final trophy competition of the season was the annual Hill Climb, which took place up the Edenham side of Hanthorpe Hill (approximately 650 yards top to bottom and an average gradient of around four per cent).
Some 11 riders ignored the storm warnings forecast and rode out to the start.
The current Josh Wallis/ Buffham rivalry continued here –but this time the roles were reversed with Buffham taking top spot by just 0.3 of a second to retain his championship.
Results: 1st Keiran Buffham 58.22mins; 2nd Josh Wallis 58.52mins; 3rd Adam Ellis 1.04.08hrs; 4th Frazer Wallis 1.05.58hrs; 5th Rob Mcalinden 1.06.65hrs; 6th Neil Palmer 1.06.77hrs; 7th Andy Bowser 1.13.71hrs; 8th Tilly Gurney 1.14.44hrs; 9th Andrew Gurney 1.32.95hrs; 10th Chris Bettinson 1.53.75hrs. Guest rider – Juan Jose Lopez, 1.16.44hrs.
- Last Thursday saw the midweek riders take a 52-mile loop to The Green Man at Ropsley in fine weather but with the usual breeze.
Over the last two weekends, the Saturday social riders have ventured out on a 50-mile loop to Thorney and also made the 45-mile round trip to the Granary cafe (Helpston).
- Spalding’s Tom Wright competed in the Junior Tour of Wales over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
It started on Friday evening with a five-mile time trial on a rolling course finishing up the infamous Tumble. He completed the section in 15.53mins.
Saturday morning then saw the 100 juniors complete a 70-mile road race starting in Abergavenny and finishing up the climb of Rhigos.
Wright finished in 68th position and in 71st on general classification.
On the Sunday morning there was a 22-mile circuit race around the picturesque Pembrey race track, with Wright finishing safely in the bunch.
A 68-mile flat road race followed in the afternoon, but the Spalding ace punctured at 44 miles – hampering his overall progress.
A 58-mile road race concluded the event on Monday, which saw Wright finish 62nd on the stage.
To complete the entire event was an achievement in itself for the youngster.
