Strong winds cut the speeds of time trialists over the Easter holiday after the opening event on Good Friday escaped the unwelcome change in the weather.

No fewer than 30 riders - exactly a quarter of the entry - beat their qualifying times in the Bournemouth Arrow Fircroft Hotel 10 at Poole.

In-form Chris Ball (53-12 Multisports) was the clear winner there, finishing just nine seconds off the course record in 19 minutes 37 seconds to win by a decisive 26 seconds. Just eight seconds separated the next four, with Brian Greensmith (Primera Bournemouth) having to share third place with the veteran, Mike Loader (Yeovil CC).

Steve Walkling (VC St Raphael Waite Contracts) was two seconds too quick for them on this occasion, but this was not quite good enough to prevent the new Bournemouth squad from adding to its growing list of team successes, Greensmith being backed up by Julian Jenkinson and Paul Flight on this occasion.

Walkling went one better on Sunday morning, moving up from second place a year ago to victory in the Coronation Cup 25 organised by Salisbury RC near Andover.

Walkling won by an impressive margin, his time of 55-12 giving him a 52-second advantage over runner-up Jenkinson, and with clubmates Aran Stanton and Simon Berogna finishing in the top ten, he led the winning team too.

Hedge End's Malcolm Cox, who shared the team success with Walkling in this race a year ago, made a low-key return to competition after a training crash left him with a broken shoulder in February. Riding a club 25 near Chichester, Cox took 1-2-11 to finish third in an event won by Peter Pickers (Northovers Veterans RT) in 1-0-39.

Alton CC's disappointment in attracting only 22 entrants for its Easter time trial round a 50-kilometre circuit over hills east of Winchester was compensated somewhat by the winner, Paul Pickup (Liphook Cycles RT) coming close to beating the four-year-old race record set by French-based Cofidis professional Rob Hayles.

Defying the headwind over the last 15 kilometres, Pickup reached the finish near West Meon only six seconds slower than the record time set in more favourable conditions, to win by over five minutes.