Reading Cycling Club press report, week ending Sunday 28 June 2009

Reading riders have been coping with heat and distance.

Action Research Charity 24hr Team relay race
Reading CC's Gavin Spiers and Tom Sugden made a massive day-long effort
to gain a magnificent second place in the Action Research 24-hour team
relay race. Ably supported by Simon Carter and Jim Cox, the four-man
Avis team accumulated an impressive 799km distance over 174 laps of the
Top Gear track at Dunsfold. Each rider took it in turns to represent the
team, the two Reading CC members doing equal shares with their teammates. Winning
team Iron Horse gained just 23km extra distance by comparison. A total
of 24 teams were competing.
Spiers takes up the story: "The event was hard, painful & tiring. Since
we were in contention for a podium place from the start it meant that
every time we went out we had to give it everything. It was a very close
race and we succeeded through brilliant team work and maximum efforts
from everyone. Although the team hadn't met each other before we worked
very well together and had great camaraderie which really helped to get
us through the tricky times. The trophies were given to the winning
teams by Nicole Cooke, fresh from her win at the British Road Race
Championship the previous day. It was a fantastic experience and a
fantastic result."
Sugden added: "We surpassed all our expectations of what we thought we
could achieve!"

Road and Circuit Racing
Gavin Spiers raced at Eelmore circuit midweek. "I wasn't feeling that
good in the race so I wasn't attacking. VC Meudon were keeping the pace
high which stopped anyone from trying to break away, however the pace
slowed slightly with one lap to go and a chap attacked very hard and
kept the gap to get the win. In the bunch sprint I managed to find a
space in the sprint to get 4th".

Time Trialling
A warm Tuesday evening saw a good turnout for the club 25-mile
championship. A constant Easterly breeze meant it was not the fastest of
nights. Paul Elcock repeated his 10-mile success by winning the 25-mile
event in in 56:59. Completing the podium were Steve Bale with 57:21 and
Greg Woodford with 58:21. Ladies champion was Trudi Sammons with
1:01:03, edging out Lucinda Seymour on 1:02:03. Fastest veteran on
standard was Barry Quick with a plus of 12:52. Steve Bale commented: "It
felt very tough out there. I'm pleased to get a podium finish."

Barry Quick competed in the Newbury Road Club weekend with a 10-mile
event on Saturday and a 25-mile event on Sunday. Quick comments:
"Saturday afternoon was near perfect for racing with little wind and
warm temperatures. I managed a three season best with 25m 3sec. Sunday
morning dawned with even better conditions, being cooler and with no
wind. I only managed 1h 6m 56s due to my efforts the previous afternoon
and was not very pleased with that."

Dave Gaida rode in a 25-mile event on the A303 at Thruxton. "It was very
hot and I crawled up the big climb but still did 1-8-59 for a veterans
plus of +16-39. This was a three season best for me."

Sunday clubrun
The club's website www.readingcyclingclub.com contains full details of
all clubruns.

Roderick MacFadyen
Reading Cycling Club.

Photo caption: Nicole Cooke (centre) presents trophies to Team Avis:
Tom Sugden, Gavin Spiers, Simon Carter and Jim Cox
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