The penultimate, 14th round of the Decathlon Evening 10 Series by Wrekinsport saw Tomos Hales put the title within touching distance after a win of 12 seconds over the rider he has been battling it out with all season, Chris Halford. Hales coped best with a roaring southerly wind that made conditions tough on the leg from the top of Cotwall Bank to Shawbirch, stopping the watch on 21 minutes 50 seconds to open up a five point gap at the top of the standings. With six points for a win Hales holds the cards and as long as he finishes the final round he is guaranteed at least to share the trophy.
Halford took the runner-up spot on the evening in 22:02, seeing off Stourbridge Velo’s Darren Shaw who equalled his 10 mile personal best with 22:45. Hales and Halford aren’t the only riders to be scrapping over medals with Rob Jackson taking 4th on the evening in 23 minutes exactly to claw back a point from Phil Roberts who was nine seconds slower. Roberts is almost certain of the Bronze medal but Jackson delayed that surety by a week by pipping Roberts.
One medal was taken in the Women’s Series thanks to Clare O’Donnell recording a course best 30:47 to see off a rider who has been challenging for Gold for much of the season, Victoria Doran. O’Donnell took Women’s Bronze, with Doran left at a four point disadvantage to Clare Cotterill, who stretched her lead to four points with a fine 29:04. None of them had an answer for Nova Raiders’ Deb Huson-Lumb however as she showed her class with a 24:12 effort to take 9th spot Overall amongst a 21-strong field.
In the Road Bike Series Stuart Wortley took maximum points in 31:15 to seal an emphatic Series win, taken in Round 12 but since opened up to 31 points, but hadn’t got an answer for first-time rider Nick Roberts who posted a very respectable 27:11.
Decathlon Series by Wrekinsport Top 5 Cumulative Standings after fourteen rounds
|
Pos'n
|
Name
|
Total Points
|
|
1
|
Tomos Hales
|
71
|
|
2
|
Chris Halford
|
66
|
|
3
|
Phil Roberts
|
43
|
|
4
|
Rob Jackson
|
37
|
|
5
|
Rich Smith
|
34
|
Road Bike Series Top 5 Cumulative Standings after fourteen rounds
|
Pos'n
|
Name
|
Total Points
|
|
1
|
Stuart Wortley
|
70
|
|
2
|
Dave Slater
|
39
|
|
3
|
Steve Porter-Knott
|
38
|
|
4
|
Luka Stolic
|
30
|
|
5
|
Hannah Jukes-Jones
|
10
|
Women’s Series Top 5 Cumulative Standings after fourteen rounds
|
Pos'n
|
Name
|
Total Points
|
|
1
|
Clare Cotterill
|
74
|
|
2
|
Victoria Doran
|
70
|
|
3
|
Clare O'Donnell
|
47
|
|
4
|
Emma Horne
|
12
|
|
5
|
Hannah Jukes-Jones
|
10
|
