Marchant is again in fine form for Swindon RC (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Marchant is again in fine form for Swindon RC

SWINDON RC's Steve Marchant won the latest round of the Rudy Project National Time Trial series.

Pen-Y-Fan and the Black Mountains, near the small town of Brecon in South Wales, provided the backdrop for the 16.5- mile challenging course which contained a long back breaking climb.

Conditions were close to perfect, warm and sunny with barely any wind and good road surfaces, and Marchant was the second but last rider to start in the veterans' section.

An undulating course suited Marchant's hill-climbing abilities as he caught overall series contender, Roger Iddles (Stour-bridge CC), for two minutes on the biggest climb of the course.

His time of 37 minutes 10 seconds was almost a minute ahead of second placed Dave Dent (SP System's Wightlink RT) in 38.08 and Jake Prior (Andover Wheelers) third in 38.17.

Marchant's win rearranged the overall points table very much in his favour as he now leads the series with 328 points, only two points below the possible maximum of 330.

Second overall is Roger Iddles (Stourbridge CC) with 314 points, followed by Steve Wigglesworth (Vegetarian CC) with 308 points.

Following recent success in the Downhill National Championships 16-year-old Kirsty Price from Covingham, claimed first place in the Midlands MTB Downhill Super Series at Ryhd-y-Felin in North Wales.

The course started high on a cleared forest area with some seriously steep and fast fire roads before dropping into a technical forest section with a final sprint to the finish some 350 metres below the start.

Kirsty's first run went well in posting a time of 4.45 whilst older brother Rob timed at 4.21.

The second run saw her slide off in a wet section of the course. Despite the mishap, she timed only five seconds slower than her first run which was good enough for the win in the senior women's event.

With two first places in the last few weeks sees a confident Kirsty in good form for the round four of the National Points series at Innerleithen in Scotland next weekend.

The latest round of the weekly Swindon RC and Corinium CC handicapped ten-mile time trial series was held in hot conditions on the Latton course.

Jason Costello was again fastest on the night, although setting a slightly slower time than usual, while 15-year-old Daniel Higgs still leads the series overall with three events remaining.

Results: J Costello 22.33, C Bishop 23.59, C Broad-Drake 24.01, A Thomson (J) 24.20, P Jeans 25.03, M Allen 25.10, T Morris (J) 25.10, T Jordan 25.17, J Smith 25.23, C Hayter 25.38, D Jeffrey 25.59, K Tilley (J) 26.02, T Sherwood 26.31, M Mason 26.34, D Higgs 26.41, D Bater 26.41, M Murkin 26.49, A Hughes (J) 27.34, B McPhail 27.49, S Telford 28.08, J Croston 29.08.

Following his second place in the Swindon RC Summer Road Race the previous weekend, local man Nick Tilling, riding for the Essex-based Angliasport Team, took to the bigger stage in the 180km International Havant Grand Prix in South Hampshire on Sunday.

Many of the UK's elite racers were present as well as a number of European teams in the entry of one 100 riders who wheeled out of the start in Havant towards a circuit over the rolling Hampshire Downs.

After over 4.5 hours of hard racing, a four man group contested the finish with former European professional Malcolm Elliot of the Pinarello team taking the win in front of a sizeable crowd in Havant town centre.

Tilling placed a very creditable 16th in a small group of riders who had not been able to contain the winning break in the heatwave.

For more information about Swindon RC contact Bryan Telford on 01793 726020 or visit www.swindon-rc.co.uk