The first evening 10 of the year was run at Betteshanger Country Park in cold, overcast and windy conditions. In spite of this, there was a good turnout of 12 junior and 51 senior riders. The field was a mix of regular faces and a number of first timers.
The fastest junior was Toby Anderton of VC Deal with a very respectable time of 22.43, whilst the fastest club junior was Ollie Robinson in 23.11. Ollie was sporting a few war wounds from his weekend accident at a road race in Wales, but fortunately he has no broken bones. Moving onto the seniors, Chris Fennel was the odds on favourite for the top time, but unfortunately Chris had to abandon his ride when he felt unwell. However, the fastest ride was still by a Fennell, with Nic recording 22.07.
The timekeepers had a minor hiccup recording a few times, but thanks to information from Keith Allen, they have been able work out the correct times. This only affected a small number of riders who finished in the middle of the field, who will find that their original times were out by a handful of seconds. All times can be found in the PDF files below.
As always, the event can only take place if we have sufficient helpers. Should you be willing to help at 2 events, Michael Friend runs the Help and Ride scheme and will be glad to hear from you. Remember that Thanet RC members will need to commit to assisting at 2 events in order to be included in the season-long points competition, and non-Thanet members can enjoy reduced sign on costs if the volunteer to assist.
This week’s helpers were Teresa Childs, Paul Griffiths, Jo Smith, Eddie Brown, Michael Friend, Pete Huckstep, David Kenning, Terry Fearn, Andy McCall and Dave Mastin.
Report by Dave Mastin.