Good conditions again but holidays seen to have affected entries so only 14 riders took on the final club 25 of the year.
Peter Graves, only recently joined the Vags and was impressive with a 1:02:45 on a roadbike. I suspect there is a lot more to come here - welcome to Thursday nights. The other newcomer to the Club 25 was Craig Fenwick but I`m sure he`s ridden it many times before I took over the results.
Tom Hutchinson continues his impressive form with a new Vags record taking 25 seconds off the old record and removing Adam Wild from another of the current records having prised him out of the 10 mile top spot earlier in the year. It also gives him the highest ever short distance bar average speed which will look good on the trophy in November - his success in this competition is a virtual certainty.
Ken Thursby is still knocking on the door of a 56 having recorded 3 short 57s in his last 3 outings. He sits atop the Vets bar but is not expected to ride again this season and according to my sums could be toppled by Dave Robinson (last years champion) if he can pull out a 23:53 in the final 10 of the year which looks possible as he has a 23:29 from last year and a 22:51 PB.
The other places in the Vets look settled with Russ Hughes,Roger Clark and Don Speight looking safe in their 3rd 4th and 5th spots but a blinding 10 by any one of them could upset this.
PBs were recorded this week by Tom,Russ,Martin R and Ian McLean according to my records. Russ is edging ever closer to the sub 1 hr club. Ian hasnt ridden a club 25 since 2015 so he`s defying chronological gravity. Toms win is a club PB by 7 minutes 16 seconds but not the biggest improvement on the night! Martin clocked an incredible PB of 7:32 faster than his previous club event in 2016. Both have however been showing this kind of form in open events recently but have nevertheless set new high water marks.
Thanks to the marshals/time keepers - we were a bit short on the night but Gordon and Richard managed the turn (Richard having just arrived back at Newcastle station at 17:40) and Sharon did the time keeping as ably and enthusiastically as usual. Jack Earl was out on the course taking photos. Anyone who fancies helping out would be extremely welcome.
