Gelsthorpe claims his fifth open victory

Dave Langlands in action for Fenland Clarion.

They provided the winnner in the shape of James Gelsthorpe, who picked up his fifth individual open win of the season, and clubmate Matthew Senter was second. Gelsthorpe clocked 53:43 and Senter 54:00.

The club’s ex-Masters World Champion Malcolm Smith was eighth in 55:38 which meant another team victory for the city club.

And rounding off a great dayfor them, their reigning world duathlon champion Claire Steels was the fastest female rider in 1:01.06 for an excellent 19 th overall from the 44 finishers.

Further south in the Tempsford area Nicholas Hitchens continued his run of form by recording a personal best 25- mile time of 56:56, improving by a massive 43 seconds. He was 12th from 50 finishers in the Finsbury Park promoted event.

The club’s last summer league race of the season at Helpston was won by flying veteran Malcolm Smith in 22:25.

FENLAND CLARION

In the Bourne Wheelers 25-mile time trial there were some strong local performances from Fenland Clarion riders.

They were led home by the in-form Dave Langlands in sixth place with his time of 54.48 and this was backed up by clubmates Paul Lilley in 57.50 for 13th and Steve Kaye in 58.45 which gained him 16th place.

The club’s Bluebell Series has just one round to go and some excellent performances thoughout the season have left young Jonathan Toma sitting in first place, with Dave O’Brien currently second.