Good Friday saw 8 rider from Cycling Club Breckland compete in the Great Yarmouth 10 mile Time Trial on the B10/43 course at Wortwell, near Bungay. CCB Chairman Don Saunders raced his Tandem with Grandson Declan Davis starting off at just after 8.00am the duo braced the cold morning air to post a time of 23 minutes dead, Bobby De’ath & partner Iain Dawson (Tri-Anglia) failed to make the start having suffer mechanical problem with there Tandem.

In the Solo event super veteran Chris Nudds defied his age again to post a time of 24.06, just missing out on the winning the Veteran on standard event. Other Cycling Club Breckland riders were Andy Tyler 24.43, Nick Standley posting a fine time of 25.03, Mark Fairhead 25.56, Roger Graham 26.51 and Mark Cox who did a 24.30.

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other local riders were Anglia Velo’s Danny Watkins & Peter James posting times of 24.39 & 26.34 the sole event was won by Anglia Velo’s Jim Burgess in an impressive time of 21.58.

Further a field Martin Badham took his early 20th Century Swift, 60″ fixed wheel tricycle down to Walpole, near Haleworth to take part in the Suffolk Trudge, the 28th Veteran-Cycle Club Easter extravaganza.

Saturday the 17^th saw C C Breckland riders Chris Nudds and Roger Graham competing in the West Suffolk Wheeler’s 21 mile Time trial on the sporting circuit at Risby, Suffolk. Chris battle round in the wet and windy conditions to finish with a time of 53.54 giving a veterans on standard time of +6.15 good enough for second fastest Veteran and sixth place overall, a little bit further behind Chris, was Roger who finished in a time of 1.00.46.

On Sunday the 18^th more Breckland riders competed in the Great Yarmouth C C 25 mile time trial on another sporting circuit course near Somerleyton, Suffolk. Again the conditions were not great, cold southerly winds and wet greasy roads are not ideal conditions for time trialling. Chris Nudds rode in the solo event finishing in a time of 1.04.10, C C Breckland duo of junior speedster Declan Davis and Mark Fairhead – some 34 year senior to Declan competed in the 2 up team time trial event, they finished in a time of 1.07.32 nearly 6 minutes 30 sec. behind winners Geoff Frost & David Staff of Tean Velo Velocity. Declan show some fine bike handling skills when confronted with ducks in the road going through the village of Lound, Mark who is recovery from the effects of a knee injury and the onset of a cold hung on to Declan wheel for dear life around the 2 laps of the sporting course. Also competing were C C Breckland’s Bobby De’ath who teamed up with Tri-Anglia & Paratriathlete World Champion Iain Dawson to finish in 1.07.09, Former C C Breckland rider Danny Watkins now Anglia Velo paired up with team mate Huw Jones to finish in 1.06.44

Cycling Club Breckland promoted their 2nd event of 2013 – a 10 mile Time Trial on the Hingham – Carbrooke – Hingham course: for once the weather was kind to the riders, light winds, dry roads and even a bit of sunshine.

The event attracted 47 riders with an age range from 14 to 82 years old. The race was won by Team Pedal Revolutions rider Mark Arnold in a course record time of 21.50, and in second place for the 2nd year running was King’s Lynn CC rider Daniel Bloy, posting a time of 22.04, missing the win by a mere 14 seconds.

In 3rd place was Jason Kierman of Wisbech Wheelers with a time of 22.53. C C Breckland’s super veteran Chris Nudds finished 10th overall and took the Veterans on standard win – just 4 seconds behind him was junior team mate Declan Davis. Times from Anglia Velo riders were Danny Watkins 24.11, Peter James 26.41 and Stephen Penney 34.32. Times posted from CC Breckland riders were Nick Standley 25.46, Mark Fairhead 26.05, Simon Atherton 26.56, Roger Graham 27.06, Andrew Lincoln 28.23, Club chairman Don Saunders riding his trike at 28.42 and Robert Walthew 31.54 which unfortunately included a 5 minute late start penalty.

A final mention has to go to CC Breckland’s Bobby De’ath who had the misfortune to puncture on the return leg, but he still managed to ride on a flat tyre back to the Scoulton Village Hall HQ, change his wheel and continue to the finish recording an admirable time of 33.11.

Sunday was the East District Cycling Association Annual Dinner and Prize Presentation held at Carbrooke village hall near Watton.

The day started off with the traditional reliability ride on a circuit of Breckland roads – this year’s ride was 37 miles mainly on main roads to avoid the snow and ice which may have been on the smaller lanes normally used. The recent bad weather seemed to have put some riders off as numbers were down on last year’s ride, a group of 8 heading off at 10.00am shortly followed by 2 more. Early conditions were not pleasant as the riders headed west towards Mundford into a strong head wind, where a short sharp hail storm was encountered and the group of 8 soon decreased to 6 as the wind took its’ toll. The riders efforts were finally rewarded with a tail wind on the home leg back towards Watton, where speeds of 31 mph were recorded. The riders taking part were Don Saunders, Geoff Muller, Declan Davis, Mark Fairhead, Roger Graham, Bobby De’ath all of C C Breckland; John Thompson of V C Baracchi; Ken Price of Tri Anglia; and Paul Jay and Jason Boutell of Team Velo Velocity.

At the Prize Presentation many local riders were presented with awards – notably King’s Lynn C C Daniel Bloy who collected Championship awards for 15 mile, 25 mile and 50 mile timetrials and C C Breckland’s super veteran Chris Nudds collected awards in the 60 – 69 year old Veteran Category including 3rd overall in the Senior Best All Rounder competition. C C Breckland’s junior rider Declan Davis collected Best All Rounder Awards in both Juvenile and Junior categories. In the ladies categories C C Breckland’s Laura Gambling took the women’s trophy and finished 2nd overall in the 50 – 59 veteran group. Chris and Declan also won team medals – Chris in the 12 hour event along with Mark Fairhead and Roger Graham, and Declan in the 15 mile Time Trial again with Mark Fairhead and Roger Graham. There were many more award and competition winners including SPOCO East awards from Clubs associated to the East District. The award proceeding were over seen by Mick Gambling who announced that due to recent ill health he would be stepping down from this role that he has carried out for 40 years.