Reg Pearce Memorial TT 20 May 2023  

This year’s Open 10 mile time trial event saw 5 Stafford Rd club riders take part in a field of 67.  On the day we had five events taking place with tandems, women’s road bike and time trial competitions and men’s road bike and time trials events.  The conditions on the day were excellent, warm sunny and with a light cross headwind on the riders return leg.  The K48/10 course that runs from just west of Weston Village along the A51 to Stone and back has a couple of aggressive little climbs near Sandon, of which many of the riders who did not know the course found a little challenging to pace correctly.

For our riders it was the Reg Pearce Memorial trophy that was up for grabs, and this would be awarded to the fastest rider based on a handicap system based on the riders age.

Talking to Richard Farrow in the Headquarter before hand this was going to be a whole new experience for him, being new to TT events.  Hopefully like so many of us he will get the bug and be back to challenge himself again, against the clock in the ‘Race of Truth’

This year Ian Foster was both the fastest club rider on actual time, finishing in 23:24 and won the trophy with a handicap time of 21:01.

Stafford Road Club Riders Full results

1.   Ian Foster 21:01 – 64mph
2.   Roger Morris 23:24 – 565mph
3.   Ceri Evans 25:16 – 8mph
4. Richard Farrow 26:25 – 7 mph
5. Richard Knowles 29:09 – 19  mph

 

Photos supplied by Jim Carter, a great shot of Ian at the bottom, his face said it all!

 

 

Below are the results from the overall event showing the fastest in each category

Fastest Overall Results

Fastest Vet	Women TT	Women RB	Men TT	Men RB
J Costello 21:50 27.48 mph	S Semple 24:21 24.64 mph	S Carter 36:11 16.58mph	G Bigham 20:17 29.51 mph	N Giles 23:31 25.51mph

 

I had lots of positive feedback in the HQ and via emails from the riders after the event to say thank you to Stafford RC and praise us on how well the event was marshalled, and how much they had enjoyed taking part in our race again this year.  So a very big thank you to the following club members and  their family members who came out to help me run this event.  Ian Brant, Nick Dickens, Don Vas, Craig McKenzie, Andy Bollen, John Cooke, Brian Hall, Christine Barber, Bill Lockwood, Fran and Paul Taylor, Fraser Nutton, James Haddon and Linda Morris.

We do not run these open TT events to generate profits and instead try to give most of the money generated back in prizes.  This year we awarded £285 in prizes to riders, and after costs for hall hire, gifts for my marshals, timekeepers fees and refreshments we made a small profit of £76 which will go back into the club to help funds.

There are sill lots of other club TT events this year for you to come out and test yourself against the clock.  You do not need a fancy bike, just a little enthusiasm and off you go in the Race of Truth.   Entry fee is £3/rider.

Wed	21/06/2023	19:00	K7/15	15.00 Miles
Wed	05/07/2023	18:45	K7/21	21.00 Miles
Wed	19/07/2023	18:45	K7/21	21.00 Miles
Wed	02/08/2023	18:45	K7/9	9.00 Miles
Wed	09/08/2023	19:00	K7/9	9.00 Miles
Sun	30/08/2023	18:45	K7/5w	5.00 Miles
Sun	03/09/2023	08:00	K7/25	25 Miles
Sun	03/09/2023	08:00	K7/50	50.00 Miles
Mon	01/01/2024	10:30	K7/5	5.00 Miles

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Champions

I recently attended the VTTA National AGM where its always a pleasure to listen to the incredible performances at the awards presentation. Among the outstanding performances, Conrad Moss rode 46:12 for a 25 at age 47, Richard Oakes rode 18:10 for a 10 at age 53, Andy Grant rode 1:48:39 for a 50 at age 69, and Graham Mann at age 73 completed 348.07 miles in a 24 hour! Angela Carpenter at 53 has a new 10 mile record of 20:24, faster than any younger women vet.  Rachael Elliott and Ian Greenstreet continue to blitz the mixed tandem records with a combined age of 102. They set a 25 mile record of 48:45, a 50 mile record of 1:39:57 and a 100 mile record of 3:40:26.  Our trike members have also been busy this year with Mark Vowells, age 69, setting 3 new records (10,15 and 25 miles) and Mary Corbett, age 64, twice breaking the 10 mile record. But the standout record breakers of the season must be Norman Harvey (age 89) who with Mary set new records on their tandem trike at 10, 15, 25, 30, 50, 100 miles and yes 12 hours as well.

A local legend you may spot in the photo of the 2022 winners is Ian Holbrook (Stone Wheelers) far right

Veteran Time Trial Association (VTTA)

The Veterans Time Trials Association promotes time trialling for those aged 40 and over.  The VTTA provides events and competitions that allows those over 40 to compete on a’ level playing field’ through its unique handicapping system.  Age is no limiter when it comes to cycling but the VTTA allows us all to enjoy Competitive Cycling for Life.  We all still race for our club, but by being a member of the VTTA there are a whole range of challenges and achievements to strive for each year.  VTTA website

Every year in memory of our dear friend Reg Pearce a trophy is awarded to the fastest Stafford Road Club member in our Open 10 mile Time Trial based on handicap times.

Reg loved to use handicaps as it ‘levelled the playing field’ he said, giving everyone of any age or gender an equal chance of winning.

This year saw 9 riders competing for the coveted trophy and for the second year running Susan Semple was the fastest using the handicap system, second place went to Roger Morris and 3rd place to Dave Smith who was the fastest rider on the day based on the actual finishing times.

 

Position	Name		Gender	Age	Actual	Handicap	Results
1	Susan	Semple	Female	56	00:25:09	00:04:59	00:20:10
2	Roger	Morris	Male	74	00:30:14	00:06:53	00:23:21
3	Dave	Smith	Male	36	00:24:30	00:00:25	00:24:05
4	Ceri	Evans	Male	53	00:27:21	00:02:07	00:25:14
5	Ian	Durber	Male	51	00:28:32	00:01:51	00:26:41
6	Paula	Blackburn	Female	56	00:32:53	00:04:59	00:27:54
7	Sarah	Brookes	Female	44	00:31:32	00:03:33	00:27:59
8	Mark	Richards	Male	45	00:29:16	00:01:11	00:28:05
9	Richard	Knowles	Male	52	00:30:34	00:01:59	00:28:35
10	Peter	Williams	Male		Apologies DNS

Hopefully we will see more of our riders entering the club times trials this year in preparation to challenge for this trophy in 2023.

Full details of the trophy and handicapping system used can be seen on the Reg Pearce Trophy page via the Racing tab on Stafford Road Club website LINK

Here is a link to the official Time Trial Start Sheet  Stafford RC May 2022 Startsheet K48-10