Wrekinsport ran their first club 4-Up since the late 1980’s four days before the Shropshire Championship 4-Up to provide race pace training on the Waters Upton – Hodnet course. Six teams of four took advantage of this rare opportunity on a dull evening where thankfully threatened heavy rain stayed away; with a close battle at the top as the first two teams off the start line were split by just 13 seconds. Won by the Paramount CRT squad of Chris Riley, Rob McGregor, Mason Durant and Simon Romei; the squad charged around the 10 mile simple ‘out and back’ course in 20 minutes 30 seconds – far faster than any had ever recorded solo showing the clear benefit of drafting and smooth rotations within a team.

There was keen competition with a Wrekinsport/Revolutions Racing Combined squad of Dean Callister, Tomos Hales, Ben Southgate and Adam Mumford as both were line-ups for the upcoming 50 kilometre Championship, looking to judge the strength of the opposition. This squad stopped the watch on 20:43 showing how closely they were matched.

Teams were largely composed of Wrekinsport or Paramount members, with four full teams having an interest in the Shropshire Championship, getting valuable practice on part of the Championship course. One of the squads not involved in the Championship took third place, with a combined Wrekinsport/West Midlands Police team featuring Phil Roberts, Jon Evans, Alex Hall and James Gibney finishing in 21:56 and getting a taste of the format - the other aim of the evening to show riders it is great fun and accessible. This was reflected in a selection of post-race comments from competitors: “Loved it – buzzing back at HQ”; “That was awesome”; and “Utterly bonkers. Basically human Mario Kart – loved it”.