That’s Centerville to a TT, that is

Leigh Premier RC 10 on Rainford Bypass (D10/1) – Saturday 22nd April 2017

Two ABC Centreville veterans rode the Leigh Premier RC open 10 mile time trial on Saturday 22nd April. Paul Basson doing his first 10 mile test in over 25 years and Dan Shackleton, who has just started riding time trials again after a sabbatical of nearly 30 years!

Whilst the weather was sunny, there was a stiff north westerly breeze onto the Rainford Bypass course which made hard work of the return leg from the final island to the finish.

The overall winner was former British Hill Climb National Champion Dan Evans of Team Elite with a time of 20:15. Dan Shackleton was 6th fastest overall with a time of 21:52, whilst Paul Basson did a 25:12 to finish the day in 52nd place of 73 finishers. Dan’s performance earned him £20 as the Fastest Veteran on Standard.

Results

Wigan Wheelers CC 30 Mile TT near Garstang (L304) – Sunday 23rd April 2017

On Sunday 23rd April, four ABC Centreville riders lined up to ride the Wigan Wheelers CC open 30 mile time trial on the L304 course near Garstang.

The event was promoted as part of the Lakes & Lancs 2017 SPOCO series. Usually, sporting courses (SPOCO) are circuit based and/or hilly rather than the usual “drag-strip” style time trial courses. However, in this case it must have referred to navigating around the queuing car boot sale traffic on Cockerham main street, with temporary roadworks causing further traffic chaos.

Whilst it was a chilly early morning start, at least it wasn’t wet, although it felt like the riders were battling a constant headwind all the way round both laps of the 15 mile circuit. ABC Centreville placed three riders in the top ten and still didn’t manage to win the team prize! Louis Szymanski finishing 6th (1:08:46), Dan Shackleton 9th (1:10:49) and Steve Whittington, in only his second time trial in 20 odd years, 10th (1:11:02). Paul Basson finished with a very creditable 1:19:29 to finish 28th out of 55 finishers.

Danny