Congratulations to Sotonian Tom Wilks who won our 2024 Alpe du Zwift handicap challenge. 50 riders set off up the hill on Tuesday night, of whom 21 were from Sotonia (other riders were from VC Venta and Poole Wheelers).
Tom’s time of 41:39 saw him beat his handicap by a full 11 minutes, overtaking Nick Henson from Poole in the final straight. Kent Langridge from VC Venta was the third finisher.
For Sotonia, the first three finishers were Tom Wilks and Jos Robson (both of whom were U16), followed by Evan Jardine Skinner. But the fastest overall rider on the night and also new Sotonia champion was Joey Wynne with an extraordinary time of 41:24, pipping Tom by 15 seconds. Andy Gardiner was the third fastest Sotonian, on 42:50.
In the ladies event, first female finisher was Sonia Whiteman from Venta, followed by Angela Laycock (Poole) and Vikki Sutcliffe (Sotonia). But Angela Laycock was the fastest overall female finisher (57:23) followed by Sonia (66:50) and Vikki (just 4 seconds behind).
That makes Vikki the new Sotonia champion, with Gemma Wilks (68:39) and Claire Johnson (86:23) filling out the podium.
Full results can be seen here
Thank you, and congratulations to all riders. We hope to see you again for our next challenge, a chase race to be organised at the end of the ZRL season.