Beardmore bags gold as Hutson-Lamb doubles up

A new course and near perfect conditions saw Tim Beardmore take the overall win and stretch his lead in the Friction Hydraulics Series after six rounds.

Taking in two-and-a-bit circuits of the Hodnet – Shawbury – Shawbirch triangle, Beardmore stopped the watch on one hour 54 minutes 39 seconds to take the 50 Mile Trophy and Shropshire 50 Gold by 2:44 from Bridgnorth CC team-mate Jonathan Mille-Keeling.

With the rising heat and a drag to the finish, it was a matter of digging in and pushing through the pain as Beardmore commented: “A near perfect morning for racing with hardly any wind. I settled into a good rhythm after a few miles and just tried to ride to power and tick the miles off. I paced it pretty well, although the last five miles were very hard. Delighted to take the county win.”

Leading the Friction Veterans’ Series also, Beardmore did not have it all his own way in that classification despite recording a fabulous +24:30 thanks to Wrekinsport’s Hutson-Lumb, who not only won 50 Veteran’s gold but Women’s 50 gold too, helping herself to The Jim Heath Trophy and The Women’s 50 Mile Trophy with +25:08 standards and 2:11:29 actual.

This elevated Hutson-Lumb into third spot in the Friction Veterans’ Standings and saw her narrow the gap to Women’s Series leader Helen Tudor.

Like Beardmore though, Hutson-Lumb struggled later in the race, stating: “I really struggled with the second half of the race and lots of willpower was required to finish. Pleased to take the Women’s win, surprised to get the Veterans’.”

Mills-Keeling also helped himself to a brace of medals taking Overall 50 silver in 1:57:23, and Veterans’ 50 bronze with +21:17.

Having largely been unseen post-Covid there was a surprise entry from multiple-time Shropshire best all-rounder Victor Chetta, back with Mid Shropshire Wheelers. The lack of competitive miles showed, but muscle memory did enough to gain him Overall 50 bronze.

Helen Tudor (Oswestry Paragon) remains at the top of the Friction Women’s Series by 35 points and took Women’s 50 silver in 2:25:59.

That left the final medal of the day going to Wrekinsport’s Victoria Doran, just getting back into time trialling after a fall earlier in the season. She took Women’s 50 bronze in 2:53:22.

Round seven of the Series proved to be a war of attrition for Shropshire riders in the classic Anfield BC 100 as a tricky and rare north-easterly wind, illness, heat and mechanical issues meant just five county riders completed the oldest extant time trial in the world.

Introduced in 1889, this long-distance race has always featured Shropshire roads, but with a new course receiving first use based upon Hodnet – Shawbury and Shawbirch, a nagging wind sapped competitor’s strength on the long 9.5 mile slog from Shawbirch to Hodnet, which had to be endured four times.

Wrekinsport’s Tomos Hales took the win, and was the only county rider to beat 25mph average with an excellent effort of three hours 55 minutes 43 seconds. This moved him up to fourth overall in the Friction Series as leader Beardmore and second-placed Mills-Keeling sat out.

Strategy is all important in a 100 mile race, with Hales striking the right balance.

“I was happy to be quite comfortably under the four-hour mark for the 100. I fuelled a lot better this time and didn’t fade as much as I normally do towards the end.”

Paramount’s Rob McGregor also took full advantage of the bonus points on offer for long distance events to move into the top 10 standings thanks to crossing the line in 4:18:27.

Also moving into the top 10 was North Shropshire Wheelers’ James Neale, helping himself to third spot in 4:31:02, and taking runner-up Veterans’ spot with +11:20.

Neale was beaten to Veterans’ honours by Oswestry Paragon’s Tudor, who also took the Women’s win and stretched her lead at the top of the Women’s standings to 115 points thanks to an 80-point winning bonus.

Tudor is well versed in coping with long distance races and finished in 5:03:55, with a winning Veterans’ +18:29.

Taking the final place in the five-strong line-up was Hafren CC’s Simon Jones, ending his morning on 5:13:44.