Harley the first to bring Waveney Valley 10 time under 20-minute barrier
Norwich ABC Road Race winner Harley Matthews with half a mile to go. Picture: Fergus Muir - Credit: Archant
Harley Matthews (DAP CC) brought the course record for the Wortwell-based version of the Waveney Valley 10 course under 20 minutes for the first time with his 19:56 winning time in the Norwich Amateur BC event.
Matthews, from Bradwell near Great Yarmouth, had 13 seconds in hand over Matthew Senter, his rival all this season, and 14 seconds over Daniel Bloy.
Riders faced a difficult return leg – in particular the drag past the Earsham pig farm, but this leg is nearly a mile shorter than the outward one.
Rain showers were threatening, but passed the course by.
King's Lynn MTB club organised a splendid six-hour enduro race over a 5.5-mile course on Shouldham Warren.
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KLMTB also won the race for Pairs – the only team in the whole field to manage 15 laps of the hilly course between Swaffham and Downham Market. Even the winning three-person team of Clement Palozzi, Lee Woodcock and Chris Hunter could get only 14 laps in, albeit finishing 12 minutes earlier.
An early break of three dominated the Orwell Velo Road Race at Gosbeck. Mark Powell from Stowmarket & District CC, Mike Bell from the Stowmarket club's Fast Test Racing Team and James Sherwood (Orwell Velo) escaped on the first lap and the bunch never saw them again.
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At the finish Bell took a debut win from Powell, who is effectively his club-mate, with Sherwood third.
Autumnal mist caused a 30-minute delay to the start, but conditions soon became brighter, with a headwind on the finishing straight – the finish returning to the straight road outside Crowfield Rose, after some years of finishes at Framsden.
Cambridge CC's Bjorn Krylander successfully attacked from the bunch and took fourth place, 11 seconds ahead of his club-mate Sam Barker with the bunch including North Norfolk Wheeler Mike Padfield (8th), streaming in behind.
Eastern League cyclo-cross riders stretched their legs at Chelmsford over a course including three flights of steps and two pairs of hurdles. James Madgwick won the Senior race from Jonathan Dennis, while Iceni Velo rider Angus Toms was third in the 80-rider race for Youth (12-16 years old).