Round up of a busy week of cycling and triathlon for members of the West Suffolk Wheelers

Another good turn out from West Suffolk Wheelers & Triathlon Club at Suffolk Cycle Race Series on Wednesday 29th Jun at Ipswich’s Trinity Park saw Stu Grand again up in the mix in the men’s 4^th category race. The fast paced racing also had good turns from Giles Prime, Stephen Palmer, Mark Camp, Chris Whitby, Stephen Campbell and Joseph Kaye. Fraser Elsworth continued his recent run with a fine 2^nd in the U16 event.

The racing theme continued with Round 6 of the Mud Sweat and Gears mountain bike race at Carver Barracks near Saffron Walden on Sunday 3rd July. Facing a tight, fast flowing and technical circuit, Paul Watson shredded the course and chased the leaders hard for a well deserved 4^th spot in the Grand Vet Male (4 laps/1:31:53). Jospeh Kaye will be pleased with 26^th in the Veteran category (6/1:41:45).

Further afield, 10 Wheelers were in action at the Norwich ABC open 10 mile time trial held on the B10/43 course on the Wortwell-Bungay-Wortwell section of the A143. A tailwind assist on the out leg meant a harder effort on the return. Darren Davis took all in his stride and produced a highly polished finish time of 21:56. Paul Rooke (22:18) and Adrian Rudd (22:25) followed with Alan Hale (25:38), David Young (26:15), David Howes (26:25), Ron Back (26:27), Mark Eastwood  (26:51), John Steed (27:01) and John Coles (27:15) all making their mark.

Darren Davis was in action again on Sunday at the Eastern Counties CA’s 25 mile time trial on the B25/4 course. 2 Laps of the A11 dual carriageway between Wymondham and the turnaround at Larling on what is a reasonably fast course saw Davis along with club mates Jason Davies and Paul Vickers produce an aggregate time of 2:45:28 which was  enough to bag 1^st team spot. John Coles enjoyed the day with an encouraging 1:07:30.

Meanwhile, Holkham Hall in Norfolk was the venue for the Outlaw 70.3 Half Ironman, held for the first time outside its home of Nottingham. A 1.2mile open water swim followed by a 56 mile bike section and topped off by a 13.1 mile run saw the squad of 8 Wheelers give another top account of themselves. Stand out performances came from Hannah Naylor, whose combined time of 5:16:01 not only saw her the fastest Wheeler home but also 2^nd in her age group category, and Nicky Bennet who finished 3^rd in her age category and 2^nd fastest Wheeler behind Hannah with 5:25:00.

Darren Sharman followed with 5:33:18, then Aiden Dunn (5:35:05) with Lee French (5:36:13), James Heath (5:39:55), Chris Wiseman (6:03:01) and debutant over this distance Phil Clarke (6:08:55) all putting in the hard work.