After a quiet month in August the season has finished with a flourish in the Midlands District. No fewer than seven events took place in September and then, to conclude, the Team Midland 10 just sneaked in on 2nd October. There was a good range of 10-mile events to choose from in September, along with the Banbury Star CC 25 at Princethorpe and the popular double-header hill-climb promoted by the Warwicks RC.
Many congratulations to Warwicks RC club member Mick Harbourne who earned himself his highest points score and placing yet in the Team Midland 10 and so moves up to 3rd-Cat. Meanwhile Gez Taylor (Clevedon & Dist RC) has been busy in 10s and so with strong performances in the Leamington C&AC and Coventry RC 10s rises to 2nd-Cat. Tim Hastie (Rugby RCC) has also made undeniable progress coming 12th in the Leamington 10 and securing his promotion to 2nd-Cat.
A rider who has found some excellent end-of-season form is Steve Batsford (Banbury Star CC). Steve stormed to 2nd place in his own club's 25 promotion and so cruised to 1st-Cat status. And finally a massive "well done" to Adam Hart (Worcester St. John's CC) who has finally struck gold at the close of 2011 with two more great results in the Coventry RC 10 and VC Sevale 10. These results nudge him into the Elites where he has been knocking on the door all season - brilliant work, Adam!
Riders are only given a category if they have completed five counting events in the previous 12 months. Each month some riders return to higher categories by regaining five results and others come straight in at the higher categories making their first appearance in the categories. This month the following riders are returning to the categories having ‘dropped below the radar' with fewer than 5 results for a while:
- Richard Bradley (Team i-Ride) - Elite
- Richard Bray (Rugby Velo) - 1st Cat
- David Barnes (Echelon - Rotor) - 1st Cat
- Preston Eckloff (Warwickshire Road Club) - 3rd Cat
- George Bate (MJS Racing) - 3rd Cat
- Colin Williamson (Solihull CC) - 3rd Cat
- Simon Darrall (MJS Racing) - 3rd Cat
- Mike Amery (VC Sevale) - 3rd Cat
- Martin Osman (MJS Racing) - 3rd Cat
Special congratulations to Richard Bradley on returning to racing in the Coventry RC 10 after his nasty accident in the Coventry CC ‘Diana Cooke' 10 at the end of April. Also, Richard Bray deserves a mention as he was in a catgeory before but he was a 3rd Cat - this time he has reappeared as a 1st-Cat! And finally Colin Williamson has returned to the categories as a 3rd-Cat although previously he was only a 4th. Well done to all of the above.
These riders have completed five rides for the first time and come straight in with a category above 4th-cat. Congratulations to:
- Eoin O'Flynn (Leamington C&AC) - 3rd Cat
- David Jones (Zemblanity RT) - 3rd Cat
- Paddy Allaway (Beacon RCC) - 3rd Cat
- Suzy Patience (Banbury Star CC) - 3rd Cat
And so that closes the time trial season in the Midlands. We hope you have enjoyed looking at the rankings this season and perhaps setting yourself your own personal target for improving your performance, moving up the rankings, increasing your points score or being promoted up a category.
A reminder that for anyone not in an age-category in the rankings do drop a note to Steve Lockwood with your date of birth - whatever age you are, young or old. You can find an easy link to do this on the age-categories page.
This section gives you the latest information about the Midlands Rankings.