REPORT: Southern Closed Circuit Championship

In-form Sarah Matthews (a3crg) and Chris Lord (Brighton Excelsior CC) won the VTTA Southern Closed Circuit Championship titles after strong performances at the event at Goodwood circuit in Sussex.
Organised by a3crg, the event proved popular with 135 riders competing and 99 veterans competing on age-adjusted times for the VTTA championship titles.
Lord (Brighton Excelsior Cycling Club) had an AAT of 18-51 in the open time trial bike category, with the best female being Matthews (a3crg) in 18-57.
The road bike prizes on age-adjusted times went to Larry Wiltshire (Racing Club Ravenna) in 21-13 and Ruth Whiddett (a3crg) in the women’s category in 22-12.
In the women’s event on actual time Matthews was victorious again in 23-43, while second place was Gemma Dobson just eight seconds behind & Lucy Mitchell in third place.  Fastest in the women's road bikes & fourth overall was Ruth Whiddett with a 25:05.
Cris Coxon of Brighton Mitre CC was fastest overall, stopping the clock at 19:36 just one second quicker that Paceline's Paul Burton.  Christopher McNamara (Sigma Sports Race Team) was twelve seconds off the winning time with a 19:48. Cosmo Derangi made a double win for Brighton Mitre being the fastest on a road bike with a 21:15.
Matthews said on her win: “As last year’s winner of the women’s competition I was determined not only win again but narrow the gap overall on age adjusted time between Chris Lord and me which meant a course PB.
“The first lap felt good but when my normalised power showed on the screen the ‘I’ve gone out too hard’ thought popped into my head.
“I pressed on then shortly into the second lap I felt a sharp stinging above my right knee and a wasp was clinging on and stung me.
“I brushed it off and quickly decided to focus on the pain associated with leaving it all out on the circuit rather than the wasp sting!
“The fourth lap was hard and my ambition of beating my course PB of 23.44 seemed to be slipping away and I crossed the line thinking the wasp sting was the perfect excuse rather than admitting my pacing wasn’t great. 
“By the time I’d ridden from the finish to the signing on area the results were already live on ResultSheet and I was delighted to see I’d not only won but shaved a second off my course personal best and I still didn’t beat Chris Lord on Age Adjusted Time but will still keep working at it.”

* Photographs from this event by Lee Campbell are available here - https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/7cc9946683d249dda57f88a4a2189307

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