A fine, chilly morning with a headwind on the return leg.

Colin Inett 1.08.15
Simon Henderson 1.01.31
Rick Perkins 1.02.50 (PB)
Andy Macpherson 1.02.40
Colin Robinson 1.07.34

2nd Claims
Shay Giles 59.18
Chris Bax 1.01.06

Fastest was Ben Instone (www.scientific-coaching.com)52:08. This was a new event and course record, so Ben went home with £170.
Fastest OAS was Carole Gandy (Kent Cycles RC) +21.26.

6th May
Although numbers were down on the previous week, Thanet RC’s first venture onto the Thanet Way this season was well supported by riders and helpers. A north easterly breeze would have been handy; instead a brisk westerly greeted the competitors, so with a couple of notable exceptions, times could best be described as modest (yeah, ok, easy for me to say!). Colin Inett, recently back from a training camp scored maximum points, so the exercise must’ve done him good. And Shay Giles on a new ‘Boardman’ TT bike turned the tables on Chris Bax, overhauling him on the final slope.

A dry, rather chilly morning with a light breeze.

Colin Inett 27.19
Malcolm Adams (2nd Claim) 27.30
Chris Bax (2nd Claim) 25.08

Fastest was Gary Birch (VC Elan) 21.38
Fastest OAS was Carole Gandy (Kent Cycles RC) +7.51.

Good conditions and a strong field led to some excellent times:
Simon Henderson 1:01:06 (PB)
Andy Macpherson 1:03:05

And a back to form Chris Bax (2nd claim) recorded 1:01:03; a plus of 13:52 on age standard, giving him 2nd place in the vets event.

Peter Tadros won the event with 54:06

The Harrietsham course is taxing enough on a good day...stick a nagging north easterly breeze in the mix and purgatory springs to mind! Nevertheless our lone Thanet rider Andy Macpherson coped well with the testing conditions recording 24:48 and finishing amidst some strong company.

2nd claim rider Paul Burrows won the event with 21:41 and Shay Giles was 3rd in the vets with a plus of 6:02.

A big thanks goes to Dave Saffery, who despite continuing ill health supervised his team of helpers and once again presented a successful and enjoyable event. Dave clearly has friends in high places, since he also managed to organise a warm and still morning for us.

Congratulations to the winners Paul Burrows and Phil Bull of VC Elan, the fastest vets Shay Giles and Kenneth Beecham and the ladies from Greenwich Tritons Coralie Glaunes and Fiona Boxall; and our thanks to all the competitors for supporting the event.

Enjoyable? Yes, but not without incident and for once your sketch writer was in the right place at the right time and thus witnessed Derek Howlett attempting to take a short cut across a potato field. Derek managed about 2 yards before being dumped on his butt, thus proving that he’s useless at cyclo-cross. Dave Mastin (results board) had a great race though; Dave loaned his shoes to a distraught competitor who arrived at the event without appropriate footwear… evidently this is the fastest that a piece of Mastin kit has ever been apart from when Parcelforce delivered it.

1st Paul Burrows & Phil Bull VC Elan 19:34
2nd Andy Miles & Gary Birch VC Elan 19:54
3rd Mark Powell & Adrian Lyons GS Invicta 20:29
Adam Broyad & Martin Apps GS Invicta 21:16
Shay Giles & Kenneth Beecham VC Elan 21:33 (1st Vets)
Graham Terry & David Edwards Kent Cycles 21:49
Derek Howlett & Gary Chalkley Kent Cycles 21:56
John Curry & Colin Robinson Thanet RC 22:45
Andy Macpherson & Colin Inett Thanet RC 23:30
Paul Hyde & Pete Hyland Kent Cycles 24:04
Mick Walker & Brian Birch VC Elan 24:06 (2nd Vets)
Alan Steinle Fresh Start Team Clean & Neil Lewis Southboro & Dist 24:37
Ray Treby VC Elan & Thomas Luxford Woolwich CC 24:46
Coralie Glaunes & Fiona Boxall Greenwich Tritons 24:59 (1st team with a Lady)

Warmer than last week but quite foggy early on so the start was delayed for 30 minutes. Once underway, there was only a light breeze for the large field of 111 riders to contend with. Simon Henderson sliced over 3 minutes off of his previous PB and Rick Perkins recorded a very short '5' at his first attempt at the distance; and this despite his tri-bars coming loose! So with Andy Macpherson also showing his usual consistency and Andy Burrows hopefully race fit again soon (get well soon mate!), the indications are that the TRC awards will be hotly contested this year.

Our evening 10s series commenced at Fowlmead on 1st April (please click on the title to see the stories and the results)

Quite chilly at first, but warmed as the sun came out, only a light breeze.

Andy Macpherson 1.04.40
Colin Inett 1.10.24

Chris Bax 1.03.33
Shay Giles 1.01.52

Fastest was Phil Bull (VC Elan) 54.06
Fastest OAS Carole Gandy (Kent Cycles RC) +20.13.