Records are shattered

RECORDS have tumbled again. Stage three of the Guernsey Velo Club's Four-Day Time-Trial Weekend saw three new bests.

In perfect conditions over 25 miles, Island Games gold-medallist Ann Bowditch broke the women's record by 1min. 33sec. to complete the course in 61min. 03sec.

Club stalwart Allan Renyard took a notable chunk off the over-60s record. His 62min. 40sec was also a lifetime best.

And Paul Brehaut continued his run of impressive performances, setting a new all-comers' best in a staggering 53min. 23sec.

Ten riders dipped under the hour, a sign that the club members and Guernsey cycling in general are growing in strength.

A closely-fought battle in the elite class saw Aaron Bailey narrowly take the stage one victory over Terry Wright by one second, completing the prologue course from Pleinmont to Perelle in 4min. 13sec.

Division One was also close as Simon Rowe pipped Mike Dean by just two seconds in a time of 4.28.

Newcomer Ivan Ferguson showed promise in Division Three, recording a time of 5min. 36sec.

Although a short course, it was still essential that riders paced their ride as plenty of time could be lost over the shingle bank section to the finish.

Wright showed his class in the sporting 10-mile event, with a comfortable victory.

The ride of the day, though, was Graham Le Maitre's. He was second to take control of Division Two.

The stage was over a new course, taking the riders from Perelle, up L'Eree hill, out to Pleinmont and back to Perelle.

This sporting course was obviously to Tobyn Horton's liking as the young rider stormed Division Three.

As well as the records on stage three, special mention shoud be made of Jon Osborn, the only rider to complete the weekend on a mountain bike.

He recorded the very creditable time of 73.38. Under-16 rider Sam Nichols posted a superb debut 25-mile time of 70.58.

Day four of the time-trial weekend saw some tired competitors after many had pushed themselves to new limits and were feeling the effects of the early-morning racing.

However, this did not deter Wright from stamping his authority on the weekend with a predictable win in the 10-mile time trial in 22.07.

Second overall in the event gave Le Maitre yet another personal-best time of 23.01 and a convincing win in Division Two, perhaps he will move up to category one next year.

A personal-best time of 23.57 in the final event was enough for Simon Rowe to remain the clear leader of category one by over two minutes.

However, if there was a prize for the most unlucky rider, this would have to go to Mike Brehaut, following several disasters during the weekend, from getting stuck behind a bus on the first event to his tri-bars coming loose in the 25-mile time-trial causing him to pull out, to a puncture at Pleinmont (the furthest point from the finish) in the last event.

If Brehaut had better luck, then undoubtedly he would have challenged Rowe for the category one title.

Meanwhile, at 61, Renyard was unstoppable with a clear 10-minute lead over the four events to take the victory in Division Three.

The closest-fought battle was in the under-14s and under-16s event in which Jon Dorey just scraped the overall victory from Sam Nichols.