Ken Wright Memorial Road Race

Story posted April 23, 2009

Report by Brett Travers

On Sunday 19th April, VC Revolution Cycling Club promoted the first edition of the Ken Wright Memorial Road Race on a circuit based around Abberton Reservoir, just south of Colchester.

Sixty riders from across the eastern region set off from Peldon in bright but windy conditions. The 60 mile Regional A race, which covered five and a half laps of an 11 mile circuit, was fast from the start with a chilly north-easterly wind pushing the bunch along at impressive speeds from Layer-de-la-Haye to Great Wigborough, but making life tough on the headwind section back towards Abberton.

Above: Tomlinson wins alone. Photo © Martin Orpen

Notable escapees in this 2/3/4/J event included Eastern Road Race League strongman Digby Symons (Cambridge CC), who was ahead of the main bunch for nearly two laps mid-way through the race and collected two primes for his efforts, and the pairing of Basil Moss (Cambridge CC) and Jonathan Tomlinson (East London Velo) who broke away together towards the end.

Tomlinson’s strength was evident as he dropped Moss and powered away to an impressive solo victory. He finished 30 seconds ahead of the main bunch, which was led in by noted sprinters Trevor Burke (Finchley Road Team) and VC Revolution’s very own Richard Norris. Luckily (for the Chief Judge - the author of this piece), British Cycling’s Photo Finish Camera Team was on hand to place the riders in the tail-wind assisted finish.

At the post-race presentation, where riders received generous cash and cycling based prizes donated by Birkett Long Solicitors and Thomas Cycles, race winner Tomlinson declared, “I’m absolutely thrilled as this is my first ever open road race victory. Having spent the first 10 weeks of the year on my turbo-trainer due to a comminuted fracture of my scaphoid, it was a relief to find my race legs were healthy. I'm becoming a dad in August so I'm riding with a deadline, which adds an urgency to my training and racing, so if all goes well this race should be a sign of things to come.”

He really was a fitting winner of this race held in memory of Ken Wright, a gent who was a true club cyclist.

Above: Trevor Burke (Finchley Road Team) takes the tail-wind assisted bunch finish for second place from Richard Norris (VC Revolution). Photo © Martin Orpen

Result:
1.  Jonathon Tomlinson - East London Velo
2.  Trevor Burke - Finchley RT
3.  Richard Norris - VC Revolution
4.  Jason Jeffers - East London Velo
5.  Paul Fielding - St Ives CC
6.  David Brown - Essex Roads CC
7.  Gerard Tighe - Finsbury Park
8.  Ian Samuel - Crest CC
9.  Simon Keen - Crest CC
10.  Costa Pierides - Finchley RT
11.  Neil Chapman - Maldon CC
12.  Dieter Rowe - VC Norwich
13.  Colin Wilgress - Essex Roads CC
14.  Trevor Ormes - Lotto Olympia Team Interbike
15.  Stephen Saunders - API Metrow
16.  Tristan Emptage – North Road CC
17.  Eric Gowland – Cambridge CC
18.  Andrew Cullinane – Finchley RT
19.  Tom Castle – Ipswich BC
20.  Simon Asher – VC Barrachi
21.  Philip Hargreaves – VC Norwich
22.  Darren Cainey – East London Velo
23.  Ben Brown – Whitewebbs CC
24.  Mark Howard – Shaftesbury CC
25.  Jason Evans – Lea Valley CC
26.  Mike Smith - Lotto Olympia Team Interbike
27.  Simon Bateson – East London Velo
28.  Gavin Moore – Stowmarket CC
29.  Doug Allen – Lotto Olympia Team Interbike
30.  Dave Boakes – Chelmer CC
31.  Mark Porter – Glade CC
32.  Kevin Elderfield – Finchley RT
33.  Darren Hughes – Chelmer CC
34.  Trevor Holmes – Diss & District CC
35.  Richard Woods – VC Revolution
36.  Trevor Whittock – Lea Valley
37.  Graham Pearl – Southend Wheelers
38.  Graham Galvin – East London Velo
39.  Damien Foy – Eagle Road CC
40.  Richard Dunnet – Diss & District CC
41.  Nigel Hampton – Glendene CC
42.  Martin Hunter – Metropolitan Police

Photo by Alan Lawrence -- Left to right: Trevor Burke (runner-up), Jonathan Tomlinson (winner) and Richard Norris (third), with Pam Wright (presenting the prizes for the race in memory of her late husband).