National 24 Hour Championship

Christian Geldard Steps Up for Gold.

Kath Smith’s Great Year Continues.

VTTA 24 Hours Championship.

Saturday/Sunday 27th/28th July 2024

Report by NEC Representative Tony Farrell

It is not often that one can be at a record breaking event but the CTT National 24 Hour Championship delivered on a few fronts.

In the VTTA event Kath Smith created another national age record to continue a her great season. At age 70 yrs she posted a distance of 349.63 miles to break the long standing record of Janet Tebbutt from 2004. Speaking with her afterwards she did not look like a rider who had spent 24 hours on a bike on what was one of the hottest weekends so far this year.

Not to be outdone on the record front, new member Michelle Lindley riding for Poole Wheelers recorded a distance of 429.19 miles at age 50 beating Lynne Biddulph’s 2019 national record of 404.42. Michelle was also a member of the winning Group team, Wessex, alongside Chistian Geldard and Chris Hopkinson.

 Three tandem pairs entered and The Flying Kippers of Duncan McLean and Mark Leadbetter took the Gold medal with an actual distance of 374.45 from the local pairing of Brigid Night and Sarah Murray who recorded 359.90 miles. However, Sarah and Brigid’s distance was a new VTTA record at the Combined Age Adjustment of 61.49. It is also is a new mark for the CTT records.

In conversation with Brigid post event she appeared remarkably relaxed and very happy with their performance. Sarah did seem a lot more energetic!!.

A very successful day for our female riders.

In the VTTA Open category Christian Geldard ( FTP) took top spot, with actual mileage of 469.81, after his second placing in 2023. Christian actually finished fourth in the overall competition and some miles ahead of Michael Hutchinson. He actually appeared to be the most relaxed competitor awaiting the presentation.

Chris Shaw from Fenland Clarion CC was second with Chris Hopkinson API/Anglia Sport in third place. 

VTTA members numbered 18 on the start sheet with 14 finishing and none looking any the worse for wear.

Wessex entered a strong team and three finished in the top 10 of the CTT event.

Congratulations to all.

 Michelle, however, went one further in recording the best distance in the CTT Championship and taking the Champion’s jersey in the Female category.

It must be mentioned that not only VTTA riders set records, Adam Wild ,GS Metro, recorded a new competition record of 546.36 miles. 

The Mersey Roads 24 hour event is iconic and unique, being the only time trial over that length. Whilst I might wonder at the commitment of all the competitors to spend that length of time accruing miles, one only had to listen to the comments from riders about the support, encouragement and a generally  positive ambience throught the day and night.

As in many events there are some negatives. Only one Group entered a team, no club teams were on the start sheet.

The Mersey Road event as I said is iconic. It presents organisers Sam and Jon Williams with many logistical problems each year. The district has been badly affected by new builds and road closures during the season and yet they still achieve an event that is praised widely by riders and support teams. 

On behalf of the VTTA thank you to both, once more.