A report from organiser Stuart Gilmour of VC Venta on the recent inter-club competition with Sotonia, Tuesday 21st May.

I hope everybody enjoyed a great night on the P164 last night at the annual VC Venta v Sotonia Inter-Club Time Trial. A fantastic 63 riders took to the start line (Sotonia 38, VC Venta 24, Guest 1) despite the threat of rain which unfortunately settled in during the second half of the event.


The competition was split in to four categories, open time trial, open road bike, combined ladies time trial and road bike and combined youth. Some riders chose to ride as a two-up and one pair on a tandem. Bonus points were also given to all junior riders and all female riders as the emphasis of the competition has always been to try and encourage wider participation in time trials from young riders and from our female members. Many members from both clubs were taking part in their first ever time trial and that spirit is what the inter-club is really all about.
Individual times can be seen on the result sheet website here,

https://resultsheet.app/rsd/1716027102885×307037689782468600

Things were not looking good for the hosting club VC Venta when one rider arrived having forgotten the thru axle for his rear wheel and another forgot their cycling shoes and with Sotonia already the dominant club in terms of rider entries. Would these absences be critical in the overall result. Time would tell……………….
First main category off were the youth riders and early dominance for Sotonia as their eight riders amassed points to take an early 59-8 lead against the sole Venta rider. Tom Wilks (13 years old) was fastest youth in an impressive 25m 14s.
Sotonia also dominated the open TT category securing a 55-24 victory, Venta however secured a one-two with Matt Downie clocking fastest time of the night in 21m 02s, closely followed in by Bobby Buenfeld with 21m 17s.
The ladies was a closely contested category with Venta just edging the category 14-12. Fastest female on the night was guest Holly Ramsey of the Hess Cycling Team who recorded 24m 24s. Leading female in the inter-club competition was Nicola Ferguson (VC Venta) in 28m 48s just beating Donna Bennett (Sotonia) who recorded 29m 03s.
The open road bike category however was the significant factor in the competition where Sotonia had sixteen riders compared to fourteen from Venta but Venta dominated the category on the road claiming five of the top six places. The road bike category having the largest number of riders meant the top placings also earned the biggest points and subsequently a 298-169 result in the category helped Venta to snatch the overall win on the night from under Sotonia.
The final result when adding in bonus points for the two ups and tandems was Venta 351 Sotonia 306.

Top five in each category were as follows
Open Road Open TT Womens Combined Youth (U16)
1st Tommy Stroud
VCV 22m 46s Matt Downie
VCV 21m 02s Holly Ramsey (Guest) 24m 24s Tom Wilks
Sotonia 25m 14s
2nd Carl Morris
VCV 23m 02s Bobby Buenfeld
VCV 21m 17s Nicola Ferguson VCV 28m 48s Tom Allen
Sotonia 25m 23s
3rd Jamie Plumb
VCV 23m 30s Jeremy Hubbard
Sotonia 22m 37s Donna Bennett
Sotonia 29m 03s Monty Flavell
Sotonia 26m 35s
4th Oscar Hoult
VCV 24m 15s Pete Boustred
Sotonia 22m 52s Emma Harrison Sotonia 30m 13s Isabella Hall Sotonia 27m 28s
5th Joe Wynne
Sotonia 24m 47s James Gilfillan
Sotonia 23m 02s Amy Thorpe
VCV 31m 42s Isla Hoult VCV 29m 03s

Last but not least thanks to the volunteers who enabled the event to happen, starters Rebecca Gilmour, Andrea Stroud and Kim, marshalls Jo South and Mike Naulls and timekeeper Nick Buenfeld. Thanks also to Graham Harman and Julian Gee for galvanising such a strong turn out from Sotonia CC. It was so good to see such a large number of youth riders representing your club. Finally of course a huge thank you to all members from both clubs for riding on what threatened to be a bit of a damp evening.


The baton is now handed back to Sotonia to organise the 2025 event.