The HHH club One Hour Track Race on Wednesday 21st March was one of the most closely contested in recent years. The lead group stayed together for almost the whole race before Eric Dol broke clear with 5 minutes to go to finish having covered 14,960m.
However the early leader and for much of the race was Tim Ridley. After the first few laps Tim was feeling confident and picked up the pace to break clear of the group. However, he began to pay for his early pace and after half an hour the chasing group gradually reeled him in at a rate 1-2 seconds a lap until just shy of 10,000m he was caught. He held on but the group’s pace was relentless and admirably metronomic as they bashed out laps of 97-98 seconds. Patrick Ewe took on the pace and tried to break the group but they stayed in touch. With 5 minutes to go there was a collective “let’s go” and the pace increased again to 93-94 seconds per lap but it was Eric who surged ahead leaving Patrick and Winston Parkinson trailing.
In the women’s race, Nikki Sturzaker kept up with the boys early on but gradually dropped back, still running strongly. With a final distance of 14,245m she was never far behind and arguably her performance as a women was superior to those of the men. Claire Rennie also ran well knocking out consistent lap times until fatigue set in as she slowed towards the end.
The results were as follows: 1. Eric Dol 14,960m 2. Patrick Ewe 14,945m 3. Winston Parkinson (M35) 14,895m 4. Tim Ridley (M45) 14,613m 5. Nikki Sturzaker (F35) 14,245m 6. Claire Rennie (F40) 10,970m. Thanks to the timekeepers and lap counters, Mark White, Glen Keegan and Dave Wilson.