Peter Balls won his first East District 30 mile Championship with a 1-03:24 ride on the Wymondham bypass.

The three-times EDCA 25 mile champion had just 16 seconds in hand over King's Lynn's Daniel Bloy (1-03:40) while both were comfortably ahead of their coach Dave Green who was fourth in 1-05:37. In between was Strada Sport roadman Liam Gentry with 1-05:37 and just behind Green the fastest Norwich riders David Staff (Velo Velocity, 1-07:18) and Jason Turner (Norwich Amateurs, 1-07:52).

Thetford rider Green described the day as 'a weird one' with the temperature 20 degrees at the 7am start and the east wind – not a helpful direction on this course – picking up during the event. Nevertheless Balls' time represents 28.39mph, the equivalent of a 52:50 for the more common 25 mile distance. It was hard towards Norwich and fast – two teeth fewer on Green's gear-block – heading towards Thetford.

• VC Norwich rider James Browne survived a dehydrating Fenland Clarion Road Race to hold his place in the decisive break and take eighth place in the finish at Sawtry. Regarding water it was a case of so near yet so far. As the heat built up during the 75-mile race, Browne finished off the two bottles he was carrying and appealed to a watching VC Norwich clubmate for another. It was ready on the next lap, but flew out of Browne's hand as he grasped it.

But he still found the power to hold his place in the 14-man break and 'hammer it as hard as I could' down the flat finishing stretch to finish sixth in the sprint for third spot.

• The heat cannot have been at all helpful in the Eastern Counties 12 Hour based at Great Chesterford in Essex but Team Pedal Revolution's Nik Bowdler put in a remarkable 300.4 miles to achieve a 22 mile winning margin over Antony Stapleton (Chelmer CC)

• The Community pages of Pedal Revolution's website http://www.pedalrevolution.co.uk/ are the place to learn about the Norfolk Cycling Academy whose activities in Norwich get under way early next month.