A full 50 rider field showed the keen desire for the return of time trialling after seemingly endless months of lockdown despite temperatures being a full 18ºC colder than the balmy conditions that greeted the riders a week before. Despite having to wrap up warm against the elements and times being down due on Week 1 due to muscles being cold the second Wrekinsport CC Spring 5 still saw some tremendous efforts – not least from a great turnout of 11 Juniors amongst the field.
Tomos Hales signalled his intent for the season with a maiden win in exactly 11 minutes after finishing runner-up in the first event. That was 21 seconds down on that first attempt, showing the turn for the worse the weather had taken. However the ride of the event came from Hales’ Wrekinsport team mate Oliver Rodwell who moved up from 5th place in Week 1 with a superb effort of 11:08, a rare improvement in the tougher conditions even if by a solitary second.
The first of the guest riders was Bridgnorth CC’s Jonathan Mills-Keeling, taking third place in 11:25, also 21 seconds down on his previous effort. Mills-Keeling beat off the attentions of Newport CC’s Ollie Atkin by 10 seconds, with the promoting club’s Chris Halford still slightly off his normal level as he went with a complete gear change from the previous week. Having been surprised by the finishing drag when riding his giant 62/15 smallest gear Halford went for a more conventional 53/28 set-up, but his 55 second loss shows that a compromise is required.
Fastest woman was Emma Horne, who lowered the Women’s course record by 46 seconds on her first attempt. Horne stopped the watch on 13:25, with Nova Raiders’ Marie Llewellyn getting closest on 14:13. Meanwhile fastest of the Juniors was Newport Shropshire CC’s Tom Hyde in 13:23, with team mate Ethan Campbell 7 seconds off the pace.
