Saturday 15th June - Sunderland Club National
Rarely do you get a decent Friday afternoon motorway drive, it’s a familiar drill of stop-start-stop on the tarmac and a proverbial cry of “are we there yet” from the back as you nudge bumper to bumper through Wednesbury High Street. This particular Friday afternoon, however, took frustration to an altogether different level. With the global warming induced monsoon season in full swing and the Bloxwich Farmers Guild considering converting their land into paddy fields on a full time basis a small but determined band of Telford racers crawled their way north. The only certainty being that it was a long way and that they were never going to make Friday night practice.
Saturday’s Club National was no less of a test of endurance. Given a course that threw out more people than a stressed night-club bouncer it was clear that whilst the quest for speed was still the key, thoughts of survival wouldn’t be all that far behind.
And so it proved as Ashley compiled a brace of morning dnf’s to bring a premature end to his day with Ben Cooper, after posting a time in run 2, following suit in his 3rd run.
In the Girls, Ellen Brown proved that endurance was the key as she scored increasingly quicker times through the day in claiming a great 5th place in Chi 1 and sister Claire followed suit with progressively faster runs to claim an excellent 5th in Chi 2. In the Junior categories Charlotte Gould also posted a trio of increasingly impressive times to claim an excellent 6th in category, 16th overall and sub 100 seed points, a performance eclipsed only by Abby Clifford who scored a win in category, 2nd place overall and notched the fastest female time of the day.
In the minis Jordan Fellows failed to capitalise on an excellent morning with a 3rd run mistake leading to a hefty wipe-out, a face full of matting and the inevitable dnf. However man of the day has to go to Nathan Breese, who claimed what will surely be the first of many Club National wins. In a category dominated by dnf’s the Pocket Rocket produced three flawless runs to take victory as his more experienced counterparts struggled to cope with the course conditions. Well done lad.
Sunday 16th June - Sunderland Grand Prix
As with the previous days Club National course, the Sunday Grand Prix collected more than it's fair share of dnf's & dsq's. Abby, Ashley & Charlotte's day was all over before it really got underway with run 1 disappointments. However Claire Brown kept the Telford flag flying posting another impressive brace of times to claim a highly creditable 6th place in category and 23rd overall.
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