VTTA National 100 Mile Championship

A running diversion through a field was not what riders were expecting, but this was part of the National 100 championship following a police road closure after a lunatic driver mowed down a Sunday cycling group putting two injured cyclists in hospital. The driver was detained and then arrested by the police.

The VTTA championship was incorporated into a very well organised and marshalled Tyneside Vagabonds 100 in in Northumberland.  The open event was very well supported with 75 riders and attracted a good smattering of VTTA members both local and from Scotland, Yorkshire and further afield.  Furthest travelled was probably National Chairman Andrew Simpkins.

Roads in that area are not the fastest and a fresh westerly breeze further hampered riders as they completed four laps of a rolling all single carriageway circuit. The road accident meant riders retired or were delayed, typically losing 3 minutes in their run through the field to bypass the road closure. All this added to the number of DNFs.

Congratulations to Joanna Cebrat who persevered to be the one VTTA female finisher and took the women's champions jersey. Yorkshire strongman Darren Yarwood came out top male vet by 8 minutes when his 3h 53m ride yielded +55:22. He also led the winning Yorkshire group team supported this time by Grant Whiteside and Jymmy Trevor

Thanks must go to event organiser Nick Wild and his team of Vagabonds.  Whilst many VTTA entrants had a significant journey, promoting here should encourage more veterans from north of the Tyne to join the VTTA.

Here are the VTTA finishers.