Shropshire Star

Rhino defy the odds to edge out Storey & Co

Records tumbled and world champions turned out in The Coaching Revolutions Shropshire Championship 4-Up, the most hotly anticipated event on the SCCA calendar.

Published

This rarely seen format saw the Rhino Velo RT squad of Matt Davies, Kirk Vickers, Matt Garthwaite and Stuart Glover take the spoils on the tough 50-kilometre course between Waters Upton and Prees.

And in claiming victory they saw off the challenge of Olympian and Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey, holder of 72 world records and 27-time world champion.

She led the professional ladies outfit Podium Ambition, that also featured Ireland's Lauren Creamer, Australia's Nicole Moerig and Britain's Claire Rose.

The quartet were looking for some valuable practice ahead of the Team Time Trial World Championships.

Storey & Co shattered the Ladies event record and set a fabulous Ladies course record with a brilliant ride of 1:07:46.

They held the overall lead for nearly an hour, before the Rhino Velo team managed to grab victory late on.

Podium Ambition finished runners-up ahead of a strong Preston CC squad who are regular visitors to this event.

Forced

The Rhino Velo team had made a disastrous start to the contest. Having had a test run three days earlier with no issues they knew just what was required, but didn't bargain for the mechanical issue that ended Glover's race after just 200 metres.

Forced to continue with the minimum three riders required to register a time Davies, Vickers and Garthwaite dug deep to blaze around the course in one hour three minutes 40 seconds to set that course record – and shave 1:27 off Paramount CRT's event record from 2012 to take The John Farr Trophy.

Glover was full of praise for his team-mates, stating: "It was a great showing in very hard conditions, bearing in mind it was ridden mostly by three riders. It was nice to have a big name and team entered too."

Garthwaite elucidated on that early loss adding: "We remained composed and stuck to the plan after losing our fourth man 200 metres in which made a hard race harder. Chuffed with the victory and the records."

It was a familiar tale of success for Vickers as he made it three championships on the trot having led Mid Shropshire Wheelers to victory in 2014 and 2015.

Storey was pleased with her team's performance and overwhelmed with the enthusiasm of competitors who took the opportunity to chat to and have photos taken with a champion.

She said: "Our team was looking for some TTT events as part of our training towards what we hope will be a ride at the Team Time Trial World Championships, and this 4-Up was perfect.

"We didn't expect we'd receive such a warm welcome and have the chance to chat to so many other competitors. It was a really fun event to be a part of and a brilliant way to test out a new line-up.

"The windy conditions added to the challenge so we were delighted to average 44.5kph. Thank you to everyone who made the event work, the marshals were fantastic."

Podium Ambition's fabulous time was all the better considering the team had raced the day before.

Creamer added: "After racing at the RTTC National 25 Mile Championships it was great to put on another good show as a team, setting a new Ladies course record and breaking the Ladies event record too."

The event proved popular with the ladies, with four all-female squads among 28 team entries.

Among the county squads, Paramount CRT's team of Jemma Southall, Helena Amos, Louise Woodvine and Rhiannon Jones took the plaudits with a fine 1:31:43 effort to push out Nova Raiders Ladies by 41 seconds, with both Paramount and Nova entering six squads each.

Result: 1 – Matt Davies, Kirk Vickers, Matt Garthwaite, Stuart Glover (Rhino Velo RT) 01:03:40; 2 – Nicole Moerig, Claire Rose, Lauren Creamer, Sarah Storey (Podium Ambition) 01:07:46; 3 – Paul Johnstone, Lee Faulkner, Gary Tye, Robin Brennan (Preston CC) 01:07:49; 4 – Tim O'Donnell, Sean Evans, Nigel Keyworth, Samuel Blackbourn (Paramount) 3 01:08:34; 5 – David Owen, Matt Gibbons, Ed Middleton, Scott Harris (Nova Raiders A) 01:09:09; 6 – Bryn Davies, Chris Hill, Pete Thomas, Dilwyn Griffiths (Hafren Com) 01:09:38; 7 – Andrew Tamplin, Andrew Hellowell, Christopher Wood, Rob Kennard (Rev Racing); 8 – Andrew Rose, Richard Nickless, Mark Harrison, Ian Laverie (Nova Raiders B) 01:12:42; 9 – Rebecca Richardson, Graham Harris, Paul Bufton Hafren, Neil Vose (Hafren A) 01:15:02; 10 – Andy Davies, Stuart Proctor, Neil Wilson, Andrew McCarthy (Paramount 1) 1 01:15:39.

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