National Clarion 3-up Team Time Trial Championships

– Promoted by Tuxford Clarion

The Clarion has brought me in to contact with all sorts of people I wouldn’t otherwise have met including Fergus Muir –intrepid tricyclist and cycling correspondent for the Eastern Daily Press.

Finding himself at a cyclocross event in Colchester in October he kindly snapped this picture of Evander Wishart of Fenland Clarion winning the youth event. Thanks Fergus and well done Evander.

– Ed

THREE’S COMPANY…

Another warm and sunny day for the Clarion Team Time Trial Championships and we had a good entry of 15 teams including 9 of these from Clarion Clubs with the rest made up of local clubs.

With Covid affecting 1 in 20 people in the country at the time, it was inevitable that we’d lose a couple of teams before the event, and we did. But nonetheless the best team won the overall prize which was South Normanton CC. However, shock of the day, was how close the secondplace team which was the Nottingham Clarion winners of this year’s Tuxford Cup, only 24 seconds behind, their team was Michael Cooke, Matthew Utley and Gavin Jones in 55:07, which on a sporting course like this legendary Polly Taylor’s course (two a bit laps of Tuxford’s evening TT course 11.3 miles) was a great ride for 25 miles.

In second was Tuxford’s A team with veteran Martin Smith, his 14 yr old son Isaac and Gil Grayson (16), in a ride just outside the hour, having lost 15 seconds due to traffic on Lincoln Rd.

Despite the sad news of Calder’s Lewis Smith’s passing the week before, they still sent their 3 teams, as they knew this is what Lewis would have wanted. A minute’s silence was taken at the prize presentation. Calder also fielded a full youth team recording an ‘inside evens’ time of 1hr 14m and 33 secs.

We intend to run another 3-up next year and will definitely have a road bike only event, as part of this, with a separate prize list for this. We have found that this type of team event, on quiet local roads, encourages the less than >>