Result
from Event Twelve held on Saturday 14th August 2004 Phillips
Cup - Etton Circuit 13.5 Miles
Sponsored by Star
Bikes
Steve
Macklin and Dean Fulstow Ding Dong
There
were no signs at all of the huge amount of rain that fell
during the week except that all the vegetation was looking
very healthy. And it was a beautiful day - the sort you
like for a holiday. But it was no kind of a holiday for
three (or two) laps around the four and a half mile circuit
around South Dalton, north of Etton. (full
set of pics)
Steve
Macklin was the man of the afternoon - but only just. Close
behind by just three seconds was Dean Fulstow; and if you
look closely at the result you'll see that Dean recorded
the fastest lap; just that Steve was more consistant.
The
course, as usual, is covered in grit, particularly at the
sharp bend near the start and finish. In the dip, too, half
a mile from the start was quite dangerous after a tractor
scraped another couple of hundredweights (whoops - a couple
of hundred kilograms) of rubble from the hillside on to
the road.
The
road race league uses this circuit and the better groups
go around here in about ten and a half minutes so the times
this afternoon are quite respectable. Steve and Dean's times
were particularly outstanding - I know Neil is not as fit
as he used to be but to beat him by over a minute and a
half. Well. Maybe they knew how they were going with Neil
- you could hear his wheels "singing" all the
way round the course.
Tim
White got the better of Chris Garden once again and it's
good to see Nathan Wilson moving up the score-board. Another
good ride here was Mike Gomersall's and I was going to take
into account his age - but Mike wouldn't thank me for that.
Father
and son sagas go on. Calum has just come back from a cycling
holiday in the Picos de Europa with his dad Jed. Calum said
he'd been sick yesterday - blamed the Spanish food - and
didn't feel like doing three laps. He would have finished
easily in the top half. Mattie and dad Les are battling
it out and Les seems to be getting keen now - he'll be going
out training next thing you know. Mattie had a quarter of
a minute on his dad the first lap but the Les blew big time
and lost over a minute the second lap, but recovered a bit
to go faster on lap three. What does that tell you? Of course
I missed another father and son duel with Chris and Andy
Peers. Chris has it all to himself on a Saturday because
Andy is behind the counter in Ken Ellerkers.
Paul
Hayward only managed to do two laps today muttering something
about puncturing in his legs. Strange thing is that his
lap times were good today and if he'd continued he'd have
beaten his mate Mick Adams. Well, there's a thing.
