East Lancs race reports

Ben Trippier winning East Lancs 10mile TT Championship

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Several East Lancs riders took part in the Cleveleys RC 10m Time Trial on the superfast L1015 course in Cumbria, which follows the flat smooth dual carriageway from Sizergh Castle to the Lindale roundabout and back.

The weather conditions weren’t ideal but this didn’t stop Frank Smith from smashing his own and the Clubs 10 mile record, which has stood for approximately 25 years, as he recorded a time of 21:52 minutes to lower the record by 13 seconds. Whilst riding at a consistent power output of 400 watts for 8 miles, Frank didn’t drop below 30mph on the return leg to break the record with a great ride.

The following day Ben Whitehead and Ben Trippier took part in the West Pennine RC road race held on the 11 mile Bashall Eaves circuit near Clitheroe. In a fast race both riders were comfortable in the bunch until Ben Whitehead hit a pothole and had to retire with a buckled wheel. Meanwhile Ben Trippier tries his luck at a break away on the last climb of the race with half a mile to go but the bunch reeled him in before the finish leaving him to settle for a place in the field.

Ben was surprised to have a large number of club riders supporting him near the end of the race because 21 riders were taking part in the Club’s 100 mile reliability ride, which included the finishing straight of the road race in its route.

All 21 riders completed the ride in the eight hour time limit with the seven riders in the picture completing their first ever 100 mile ride and well done to Joshua Decamps, Cameron Fitton, Lawrence Fairclough, Dave Barker, Oliver Huszar, Noah Codling and Jonny Decamps on their ride.

The same weekend, Mark Barker completed the Fred Whitton reliability ride in the Lake District over some of the toughest of roads.

Sally Rhodes won her first triathlon medal to complete a great weekend.

Last Saturday the East Lancs held their Club 10 mile time trial championship, again in a West Pennine RC event on the L109 course on the Clitheroe bypass.

This course has a long descent and then a hard climb all within the first mile and coupled with a fairly strong headwind out to the turn it made for a challenging ride with very few personal best performances likely to be achieved.

The faster riders don’t seem to be affected by conditions and victory went to Ben Trippier who continued his great form this year in a personal best time of 22:16mins to take the trophy.

The East Lancs riders made up a third of the field, and Jonny Decamps and Jason Codling recorded personal best rides.