The Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cycle Race Team (CRT) Time Trial Series finished with a bang on Sunday with the inaugural Wightlink Isle of Wight Open TT Championship.
Almost 60 riders from the Island cycling community and mainland teams, took on the Chessell 40km sporting course and although the predicted rain held off, conditions were not ideal with strong gusts over Freshwater Bay and a southerly crosswind along the Military Road which challenged the riders’ bike handling skills to the limits.
Overall Men’s and Women’s Champions
It certainly wasn’t a day for setting records, but Tim Torrie (trainSharp Development Team pictured above) gave it his best shot and pulled out an impressive time of 1.00.08 which secured him the Overall Men’s Champion title and first place in the Men’s TT Bike Category.
Lucy Gadd (Storey Racing) also showed her class by powering home in 1.11.47 to take the Overall Women’s Champion title and first place in the Women’s Road Bike category.
TT Bike titles
In the Men’s TT Bike category, Kev Chant (Wightlink-Wight Mountain CRT), who still holds the course record, put in another great performance to take second place in 1.01.16 and James Veal (Wightlink-Mountain CRT) took third place in 1.06.26.
Anne Loh (NAUT Cycling) was on fine form and took the Women’s TT Bike title in 1.13.11 and second place in the Overall placings.
Road Bike titles
Jordan Giles (Primera-Teamjobs) romped home in 1.04.03 to take the Men’s Road Bike title, with James Pett (Wightlink-Mountain CRT) finishing in 1.09.32 to take second followed closely by team mate, Adam Holleyman, who came home in 1.09.55 to take third place.
In the Women’s Road Bike category, Nadia Lele (NAUT Cycling) came in second behind Lucy Gadd in a time of 1.29.29 and Lucy Doorly (Wight Tri), in her first season of racing in the TT Series, took third place in 1.39.27.
Veteran riders
In the Vet Categories, Martin Piper (NAUT Cycling) took the Vet 50+ title in 1.10.28 just ahead of his team mate, Sean Williams, who finished in 1.10.30 and Craig Wilson (Wight Tri) who took third place in 1.12.26. Steve Taylor (NAUT Cycling), who has competed in every race this season, continued his winning streak by taking the Vet 60+ crown in a time of 1.14.36 with Justin Steele (NAUT Cycling) taking second in 1.18.45 and Lee Holdaway (Hastings and St Leonards CC), who travelled to the Island to compete, taking third in 1.26.48.
Junior riders
Ewan Cook (Wightlink-Wight Mountain CRT ) remains unbeaten in the Junior category and stormed home in 34.22 (1 circuit of the 40km course) to take another win.
Billy Williams (NAUT Cycling), racing in his last season as a Junior, came home in 36.44 to take second and Henry Morgan (IOW Triathlon Club) put in a good performance to take third in 41.57.
Support for prizes
Category prizes on the day were supplied by the team’s sponsors, Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries, Wight Mountain, Island Stoves and Chessell Pottery Cafe.
Thanks also go out to local rider, Faye Faber, and her sponsor Drag2Zero, Nopinz and Rollo Dixon (NAUT Cycling) who donated prizes for the event.
CutLaserCut (aka Russ Mellor and his team) came up with yet another set of fantastic, stylish trophies. Local photographer, Paul Taylor, who has supported the Series by going out in all weathers, was on the course again with his camera along with John Lampard who had travelled over from the mainland to take some action shots of the competitors.
Tour of Britain VIP Hospitality tickets the top prize
Organisers and Wightlink-Wight Mountain team members Jerry and Julie Cooper said,
“It was fantastic to see everyone again and great to meet some new riders from the mainland who were keen to take up the challenge, it certainly makes all the hard work worthwhile. It’s quite sad to be coming to the end of the Season, but the Series is proving to be such a great success and we hope that we can move on to bigger and better things in 2023 and beyond.
“Huge thanks go out to our sponsors, everyone who supports the events and the amazing volunteers from the local cycling community who give up their time to help out on the day – we really couldn’t do it without them.
“We always try to reward the riders who support the event with a free prize draw and we were really lucky to be able to offer a top prize of a pair of Tour of Britain VIP Hospitality tickets, courtesy of IOW Council, and a £200 Wightlink voucher at this event.
“We also held the long-awaited Grand Draw in aid of Mountbatten after the presentation and we can’t thank enough all the local businesses and sponsors who supported the raffle with their generous donations which enabled us to hit our target of £2,000 for our chosen worthwhile charity.”
The last event of the Season is the Hill Climbs Championship to be held on Sunday, 2nd October.
News shared by Julie on behalf of Wightlink-Wight Mountain CRT. Ed
Images: © John Lampard
