Arriving early (18:40) to park the car in the vicinity of the start line, to keep it clear for us, it was dry and surprisingly warm with a moderate prevailing wind but rather grey skies. By the time people started to sign on it was spotting and by the time the field was being set at 19:15 rain had set in.
It was looking like the start and finish would have to be adjusted due to a number of cars parked on and around the start line but some runners returned and drove off of leave it clear for us.
So seven hardy souls set off in the rain. The longer I waited, sat wet through in the car chatting to Barny who had pumped his tyres up then looked out of the window and decided to leave his bike behind and drive up to the start to see if anyone was there, as the evening closed in and the rain continued to fall with strengthening winds the more I thought that if Stuart had been signing up starters he would have pressed for the event to be cancelled!
Finally Trevor (48:52) loomed up out of the murky evening to be first across the line with Malcolm (47:58) close behind to take the win by a smaller margin than had been predicted. John Vidler (55:32), Tom Norris (59:54), Steve Denny (59:13) and Greg Blackwell (61:33) all rolled in OK then there was a wait for Ollie Chapman. I belatedly found out that Ollie had ridden the course on several occasions in preparation and had managed to come off his bike overcooking corners more than once! Tim and Romana had returned from marshalling duties in Rye, very many thanks to both of them, and reported that Ollie was still riding but looking as though he was finding it hard work. So Malcolm set off in his van to see if he was OK. Within minutes Malcolm had returned and Ollie was not far behind coming up the final hill and over the finish line. Everyone was keen to get away to get home to dry out or to the White Hart to get warm, Ollie being the hard case that he is having come off his bike and got back on to finish declined a lift to Hastings station to catch the train back to Robertsbridge. You do not get many youngsters like Ollie so it is great to see there are some youths around that can take a bit of character building hardship. But quite a few of our oldies were not up for a character building ride, given the small field!
Of course with a small field there is an opportunity to pick up more points. Malcolm and Trevor further consolidated the top two positions in the points table with the other riders all moving up several places. We are now down to only two riders that have started all seven Wednesday evenings: Trevor and Ollie. Very well done to both of them, Malcolm just missing out after turning up to ride one week and getting a puncture just before he was going to sign on.
Arriving early (18:40) to park the car in the vicinity of the start line, to keep it clear for us, it was dry and surprisingly warm with a moderate prevailing wind but rather grey skies. By the time people started to sign on it was spotting and by the time the field was being set at 19:15 rain had set in.
It was looking like the start and finish would have to be adjusted due to a number of cars parked on and around the start line but some runners returned and drove off of leave it clear for us.
So seven hardy souls set off in the rain. The longer I waited, sat wet through in the car chatting to Barny who had pumped his tyres up then looked out of the window and decided to leave his bike behind and drive up to the start to see if anyone was there, as the evening closed in and the rain continued to fall with strengthening winds the more I thought that if Stuart had been signing up starters he would have pressed for the event to be cancelled!
Finally Trevor (48:52) loomed up out of the murky evening to be first across the line with Malcolm (47:58) close behind to take the win by a smaller margin than had been predicted. John Vidler (55:32), Tom Norris (59:54), Steve Denny (59:13) and Greg Blackwell (61:33) all rolled in OK then there was a wait for Ollie Chapman. I belatedly found out that Ollie had ridden the course on several occasions in preparation and had managed to come off his bike overcooking corners more than once! Tim and Romana had returned from marshalling duties in Rye, very many thanks to both of them, and reported that Ollie was still riding but looking as though he was finding it hard work. So Malcolm set off in his van to see if he was OK. Within minutes Malcolm had returned and Ollie was not far behind coming up the final hill and over the finish line. Everyone was keen to get away to get home to dry out or to the White Hart to get warm, Ollie being the hard case that he is having come off his bike and got back on to finish declined a lift to Hastings station to catch the train back to Robertsbridge. You do not get many youngsters like Ollie so it is great to see there are some youths around that can take a bit of character building hardship. But quite a few of our oldies were not up for a character building ride, given the small field!
Of course with a small field there is an opportunity to pick up more points. Malcolm and Trevor further consolidated the top two positions in the points table with the other riders all moving up several places. We are now down to only two riders that have started all seven Wednesday evenings: Trevor and Ollie. Very well done to both of them, Malcolm just missing out after turning up to ride one week and getting a puncture just before he was going to sign on.
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