Midland DC

For the final event of this year's Series we returned again to the Shirley RC's club 10 on the course starting at Knowle and heading to the Five Ways roundabout and back. Once again the Shirley RC pulled out all the stops to make us feel very welcome with marshals, a proper results board and refreshment served up afterwards. The weather was also extremely kind after the very mixed weather of recent weeks. There was scarcely a breath of wind and the evening was sunny and warm. It was great to see 34 riders sign on, although just 10 of these were entrants to the Women's Series.

Rachel Turner (VC St Raphael) has made a habit of being the fastest of the Series riders and she repeated her success again with a time of 24.46. The second and third placed riders, Susan Semple (Stafford RC) and Michelle Drakeley (Concorde CC), have been closely matched all season and this time it was Susan's turn to be fastest with 25.25 to Michelle's 25.37.

	Rachel Turner receives one of her medals from Hilary Thorpe, President of the Shirley RC

Despite the good racing conditions, the challenging nature of the course, with its heavy road surface and continuously rolling gradients, meant that nobody improved on their personal best. However, getting the closest you can to your PB is still a mark of success and it was terrific to see Gabriela Mackinnon (Team Midland Racing) top the table for the first time in this competition. Gabriela has been racing all season in her club's events and falling just 23 seconds short of her best ever is a real mark of progress. Newcomer to the sport Cath Ward (Solihull CC) was the only other rider within a minute of her best, falling short by 53 seconds.

Amongst the veteran women Moira Goodway (Banbury Star CC) produced an extremely impressive ride in 26.06 for fourth place overall which gave her +5.39 on standard and a very comfortable win. In the vets competition Susan Semple has enjoyed another close tussle all season, this time with Debbie Sheridan (BRAT Club). On this occasion Debbie achieved second place with +2.53 and Susan had to settle for third with +2.21.

Final Series Results

So, the final points tables for the 2009 Series are complete and the trophy winners and medallists are decided: Rower-turned-cyclist Rachel Turner is the emphatic winner on Actual but second place goes to another newcomer to the sport, Michelle Drakeley, who is also having an extremely impressive debut season. Nadine Mayhew (Leamington C&AC) held on to third place which is very commendable given that she has to fit her training in around looking after her two little girls.

The Best Improvement Chris Goodfellow Memorial trophy and medals go to three newcomers: Alison Holmes (Lichfield City CC) rode almost every event and improved throughout the season, so achieving a well-deserved win. Continuing to improve, even after a very strong opening event of the season, makes Rachel Turner's second place very impressive, and Gemma Cairns achieved a couple of wins in this competition for third place.

As for the vets competition, Moira Goodway has been untouchable on standard this season whenever she has ridden. She wins the Chris Goodfellow Memorial bowl for veterans on standard. In the close-fought battle between 2007-winner Debbie Sheridan and Susan Semple, Susan narrowly took second place, forcing Debbie this year to settle for third.

It only remains for me to say thank you to all the riders who have taken part in this year's Series. I do hope you enjoyed taking part and I hope to see you all again next year.

Ruth Eyles