ELY stalwart Tom Sykes braved the wretched weather conditions to become the first host rider home at a recent Ely Cycling Club 25-mile race event.

Sykes came home in an excellent time of 1hr 1min 48secs to finish second overall, with Cliff Loveday finishing third on the night with club chairman Martin Holland beating Craig Ewing into fourth position.

In the 10-mile event, the first three riders home all smashed their course bests. Rory Havis won the event in 22mins 29secs, with Ben Harwin in second spot (23mins 8secs) and young Aiden Merry claiming third position in 23mins 30secs.

Stopping the clock with identical times were long standing club members Martin Brown and Colin Whitchurch finishing 4th in 24mins 40secs. Other riders achieving course bests on the night were Graham Chapman in seventh position (25mins 51secs) and Kev Davis in ninth (28mins 09secs)

The next club event is the 25-mile time trial starting from Witchford at 6:45pm, for those wanting a shorter ride there will also be a 10-mile race. Riders should arrive at least 15 minutes before the start time with a road worthy bike and a working rear light.

Results

25 miles: 1st Lee Desborough 55.23, 2nd Tom Sykes 1-01.48, 3rd Cliff Loveday 1-04.53, 4th Martin Holland 1-08.25, 5th Craig Ewing 1-10.14

25 miles 2-up, 1st Hugo Hocknell and Ian Cammish 54.25

10 miles: 1st Rory Havis 22.49, 2nd Ben Harwin 23.08, 3rd Aiden Merry 23.30, 4th= Martin Brown 24.40, Colin Whitechurch 24.40, 6th Matt Eley 24.49, 7th Graham Chapman 25.51, 8th Jason Ward 27.17, 9th Kev Davis 28.09, 10th Derrick Bailey 29.02, 11th Laura Aldred 29.31, 12th Celia Whitechurch 30.34, 13th Eddie Green 30.49