A very cold night, many of the competitors encountered a hail storm on the way to the event and a blustery wind made conditions difficult. Few skin suits were in evidence, most people opting for good winter clothes.

Due to a slight mix up, the course was about a quarter of a mile short, but with all competitors doing the same distance (well most – see later!) and no chance of a PB, fortunately all but one competitor saw the slightly displaced start. As the competitor in question was a guest rider and it was miserably cold, we put him off in a 30 second gap quite quickly.

A good number of riders entered considering the car park and event restrictions, but NFCC rider Charlie Hill took the win ahead of committee member and website creator Phill Brown. Lymington Tri member Henry Lloyd-Williams took third spot. Full results can be found here.

Initially it looked as though Jonathan Chadwick had set a stunning time of 21.44. Both timekeepers wondered where he had cut the corner, and it turned out he had, unfortunately downloading the course map from the CTT. I’ll have a word with them, but all competitors should use the NFCC web site versions, as there are a number of course variants in use elsewhere!

Another competitor Ted Ward wasn’t aware of or didn’t see the turn and ended up doing an extra couple of km. Most people asked or had found the correct GPX file, but our very own Phil Harris, Sunday ride planner and general map expert decided to make the race hard and give others a chance by overshooting a turn and doubling back.

Good news regarding parking is that we now have an official use pass from the Forestry England, so don’t need to sneak about next time.

The next two events are hosted by other clubs (we’ll reciprocate later in the year) so do go out and ride them to defend the NFCC’s good name.