NOBODY anticipated the possibility of a woman emerging the outright winner when Andover Wheelers decided to limit their open 10-mile time trial on the Thruxton Down course to riders who have not beaten 23 minutes for the distance.
But the impossible happened on Saturday afternoon, much to the embarrassment of her male counterparts.
They made up five-sixths of the 120 entrants, and they must have feared the worst this year, for Alverstoke's Lesley-Anne Allen (Northovers Veterans RT) came to the line with a personal best time of 23m.2s to her name.
Few gave her much chance of improving that performance in the windy conditions, but Allen, a relative newcomer to competitive cycling, is not influenced by more conventional views on the sport.
She rode to beat her previous best, and this she did, by an impressive 20 seconds, setting a time which brought her victory, by just one second.
Steve Watkins (Norwood Paragon) was the "unlucky" victim who will be remembered as the rider who lost a race to a woman by such a slender margin, and there were another two who finished less than one second per mile off Allen's pace.
Allen apart, Simon Foster (Andover Wheelers) was the only man in the county to make the top ten, but he had the consolation of leading his club to success in the team race, backed up by John Match (24-7) and Mike Risdale (24-13) and 16 year-old Tony Parker (North Hampshire REC) the youngest of the 120 entrants, returned home to Basingstoke as the junior winner after clocking 24-3.
While Andover Wheelers enjoyed hosting a maximum entry for their race Southampton's Antelope RT suffered a drop for the Sandie Radford Memorial Race at Nomansland in the New Forest.
Max Rumball (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) dominated this two day event, breaking away from another two escapees to win the first stage on his own and repeating the tactics in more devastating manner on stage two.
Results - Andover Wheelers "middle-markers" 10, Thruxton Down: 1 Lesley-Anne Allen (Northovers Veterans RT) 22-42, 2 S Watkins (Norwood Paragon) 22-43, 3 M Pagg (Middlesex RC) 22-46, 4 R Latham (Dursley RC) 22-47, 5 R Gilmour (Hounslow Wheelers) 22-53, 6 S Walsh (Salisbury RC) 23-6, 7 S Grace (TV Vet) 23-7, 8 M Cull (Dursley RC) 23-8, 9 P Rowden (A3 CRG) 23-15, 10 S Foster (Andover Wheelers) 23-24.
Antelope RT Sandie Radford Memorial Race, Nomansland: 1 Max Rumball (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) 65 miles in 2h.53m.40s, 2 T Horton (Warrington RC) @ 1m.17s, 3 P Harris (Poole Wheelers) @ 1m.48s, 4 S Barrett (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) @ 2m.45s, 5 S Wood (Antelope RT) @ 3m.7s, 6 A Radford (Bournemouth Arrow) @ 9m.36s, 7 T Woolard (Northovers Veterans RT) @ 10m, 8 J Carpenter (Gillingham Wheelers) @ 10m.43s, 9 B Harris (Poole Wheelers) @ 13m.24s, 10 J Bisson (Crabwood CC) @ 21m.4s.
Bournemouth Arrow CC 25, Bournemouth: 1 Aran Stanton (VC St Raphael) 56-28, 2 M Loader (Yeovil CC) 56-10, 3 A Harvey (RAF) 57-29, 4 J Woodburn (Maidenhead CC) 57-34, 5 C Absolom (Yeovil CC) 58-21), 6 A Millward (VC Camelot) 58-26, 7 G Harman (Sotonia CC) 58-56), 8 D Brown (Westbury Wheelers) 59-33, 9 P Lafford (Crabwood CC) 59-34, 10 S Moss (Bournemouth Arrow) 59-42.
Rother Valley CC 25, Petersfield: 1 Paul Pickup (Liphook Cycles RT) 57-35, 2 S Brooks (VC St Raphael) 57-41, 3 A Cooper (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) 57-57, 4 D Dent (S P Systems Wight-link RT) 58-45, 5 R Berry (RAF) 59-0, 6 J Glaysher (Rother Valley CC) 1-0-13.
Portsmouth North End CC Sheerspire Road race, Rowlands Castle: 1 Simon Berogna (VC St Raphael) 55 miles in 2h.10m.57s, 2 S Walkling (VC St Raphael), 3 J Millard (API Bikes), 4 V Smith (Somer Valley CC), 5 B Clewett (Casterbridge Hardy RT), 6 M Whittington (Somer Valley CC), 7 I Banks (Southampton TC) in same time, 8 M Cox (VC St Raphael) @ 10s, 16 T Stubbs (VC Venta) @ 1m.20s, 19 M Fitzgerald (HO Marine Support CRT) in st.
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