A record field of over 100 entries faced some challenging conditions at our Charlbury Open Time Trial on Sunday on a 36 mile course taking in two laps of beautiful, rolling Cotswolds countryside. Competitors were greeted with a strong breeze, providing some spicy crosswind gusts on the first two legs, and a brutal block headwind on final rolling leg back to Charlbury.
Despite the wind, the race saw some impressively quick times, with the men’s event won by Sebastian Dickson (AeroLab Ward Wheelz) in 1:23:48, and the women’s event won by Caitlin Peters (Liv AWOL) in 1:40:09. The tough, rolling terrain of the Charlbury circuit is well suited to riders on road bikes, and the Charlbury TT incorporates a popular road bike category with separate prizes for riders tackling the course on a normal road bike rather than a dedicated time trial bike. The road divisions were won by Olivia Bentley (High Wycombe CC) and Arthur Arnould (Oxford Uni CC) posting the fastest road bike times.
This event often hosts some friendly rivalry between local clubs, and this year’s team prizes very particularly closely contested, with Didcot Phoenix beating Oxford University for the mixed team prize by just over 30s. Roles were reversed in the men’s competition, with Oxford University beating Didcot. Banbury Star took the win in the women’s competition.
The Charlbury TT has always been a very sociable event, and whilst we’re still restricted by Covid rules, we were very pleased to see a return of the all important post-ride coffee and homemade cake, with competitors able to enjoy socially-distanced refreshments in the cricket club grounds whilst checking the live results on their phones.
It was very encouraging to see many new faces this year, including some for whom this was their first ever TT. Oxonian will be returning to the Charlbury circuit in June for a 19 mile, single lap race as part of its Wednesday evening club series. Non-members are very welcome – please see our race calendar for more information.
Results are available here:
https://results.bike/2021-04-25/charlbury-open-2021/results
