Local hero Chris is unbeatable

BRITAIN'S short-distance time trialling ace Chris Boardman (Manchester Wheelers-Trumanns Steel) soundly beat professional Paul Curran to win his fourth Merseyside Wheelers Invitation time trial over two laps of a 16-mile circuit at Delamere Forest, Cheshire on Sunday.

Boardman covered the 32-mile sporting course in 1-15-1, beating unsponsored Curran by 45 seconds. It was the second victory in a week for the versatile world championship rider who won the Viking '50' in Essex on the previous Sunday.

Third place was taken by Boardman's clubmate Pete Longbottom, still troubled from a broken rib caused in a road race crash two weeks before.

Longbottom, the 25-mile competition record-holder and RTTC 100-mile champion, lost 1-34 to the flying Boardman whose previous victories came in a hat-trick from 1986 to 1988.

Sunday's fourth win equalled Dave Lloyd's winning spree between the first event in 1979 and the sixth in 1984, but Lloyd still remains one step ahead of Boardman, holding the event record set that year in 1-14-4.

However, record-breaking was not on Boardman's mind when he started, last man off, number 40.

Nagging him was the threat posed by old adversary Curran, even though the former double Commonwealth Games road champion steadily lost ground to Boardman from five miles on.

Boardman said afterwards: 'Forty-five seconds lead on this course is nothing.'

That much can be quickly lost on the second lap. If not on the 9/10ths of a mile drag of Overton Hill, then maybe on the half-mile dual-carriageway climb at Kelsall four miles from the finish. A troublesome cross-wind made this more difficult than the timed Overton climb for many.

Otherwise, conditions were perfect after the strong winds and heavy rain of Saturday had given way to brilliant sunshine and drying roads on Sunday.

Boardman settled for the win, gauging his effort from the time checks given him around the course rather than blasting away and risking blowing his share of the £1000 prize list.

It began to look cut and dried for him when a perfectly timed rumour flew in to say that he had punctured, or something, at Kelsall.

True or false, it added that vital 'Will he, won't he?' ingredient to the closing moments of the drama while Curran's 1-15-46 went top of the leader board.

Before then Richard Prebble (Gloucester City CC) held the lead with 1-18-23 from number eight. This did not last, as in his wake better men flew through with superior lap times to Prebble's 38-53 and 39-30.

Curran came through first time in 37-42, Longbottom in 38-8 and Boardman in a commanding 37-12. That put Boardman 30 seconds up on Curran.

Boardman's fears were justified, however, as five miles later, Curran had pulled back five seconds after the second climb of Overton Hill, making him 25 seconds down with some 10 undulating miles to go.

Prebble eventually slipped to seventh overall, after surviving as leader for 15 minutes. It was Matthew Postle (Coldra RC) who beat him with 1-17-31, enjoying the limelight for seven minutes until Curran finished and sliced 1-45 off. Postle began to slip back, eventually to fourth, as last year.

Boardman was expected within 10 minutes. No matter how quick he or Curran was expected to be, neither were in the hunt for the £30 climber's prize. This was taken in a rush by Simon Edney (Warwickshire RC) the second time up Overton Hill. He did an average 3-0 first time, just to get the feel of it, then about 40 minutes later launched himself in earnest to take 20 seconds off, and break the record with 2-40. Quite clearly his sole aim.

Boardman went up in 2-51 and 3-1, Curran in 2-52 and 3-1, and Longbottom in fastest first lap in 2-47 and 2-57.

By contrast Edney's lap times were as much as three minutes slower and he finished 23rd fastest in the main event.

The big question was, what, if anything, had happened to Boardman?

The clock ticked away. Had Curran wiped out that 25-second deficit? Then in a trice the local hero swooped over the brow with nothing more serious than six broken spokes zinging and clattering in his 28-spoked front wheel. Despite this, he had taken another 20 seconds out of Curran in 10 miles.

Looking utterly unconcerned, Boardman sped passed The Carriers Inn and signalled the result with a two-armed salute before he had crossed the line.

For the second consecutive year Julie Hill was the fastest woman. She beat the other two women starters with 1-27-44, after leading at all points on the course. Hill's times for Overton Hill were 3-17 and 3-28 respectively. Christine Roberts (Crewe Clarion Wheelers) was second in 1-29-24 and Scotland's Sarah Phillips (Deeside Thistle) third in 1-30-34.

What they said

'I was lucky' - BOARDMAN

'I wasn't over-confident' - CURRAN

'I know my place' - LONGBOTTOM

BOARDMAN'S problems had not been as serious as rumoured, as he later explained. 'I had trouble with both wheels. The back one was just a bit out and was on the blocks. I have had a slight problem with that before, but I thought it was OK and I have ridden it three times since. The front I have never had any problem with and six spokes have completely come out of the rim. I was pretty lucky.'

The only rider to worry him was Curran, he said. 'In the national hill-climb championship one year I was level with him at half-way and he beat me. I was worried about him and I had plenty of checks on him all the way round.

'I was going to go for the course record because that would have bumped up the prize money to £230, but as the race drew nearer and nearer I thought I would play safe and get the win. Forty-five seconds sounds a lot, but it is not in an event like this. You can lose a lot very quickly if you blow.

'I wasn't sure of winning until the last couple of miles, because anything can happen. You can get stopped by traffic. I have been stopped on this course before by a group of cyclists riding around the course holding up the cars behind them.

Longbottom was his usual philosophical self after finishing third. He was fastest on the first climb.

'I didn't actually go for it. I just like to keep my effort going up the hill. There is a nice long descent afterwards and so you might as well relax on the descent. It is just the way I ride. I sprint up the climbs and then relax on the descents.'

How did his broken rib effect him? 'It is not that bad, but at the top of your breath, it just clicks. I went to the doctor on Monday, because it was all swollen up. They have to keep syringing it all the time, because it keeps filling up. It has just knocked me down a bit because I can't train as hard.'

Surely if he had been on top form, he might have done better today. 'No, Chris is a top time triallist. I know my place.

'He has the edge on me. I have never beaten him in a time trial, and I don't think I ever will. He is a class rider. You can't compare yourself with him.' Milk Race stage winner Paul Curran was, as he put it, not over-confident before the start.

'I haven't raced properly for quite a few weeks,' he said. 'I have had to do it all on training.

'I was starting to blow a bit on the second lap. Normally I wouldn't be blowing.

'Overton Hill was all right. I went up in the car yesterday and I didn't know if I would have a low enough gear on my block, but I was all right, not even in bottom gear. I just took it steady up there.'

Boardman wasn't the only one to have wheel trouble. Manx International winner Tim Hall (Liverpool Mercury RC) took Overton Hill in 2-54 the first time, but then lost a quarter of his full compliment of spokes - four from a 16-spoked front wheel - after seven miles.

Hall finished ninth fastest in 1-19-38, one place behind national individual pursuit champion Simon Lillistone (Team Haverhill) in 1-18-40.

Sue Wright (Chelmer CC) runner-up in the women's BAR, punctured on the first lap and abandoned.

Alan Gornall could have been forgiven for packing but all credit to him for not doing so.

Gornall, the RTTC national 12-hour champion and international roadman punctured at Mouldsworth, en-route for Kelsall on the first lap.

There was no slick wheel change for Gornall, no support car just happening to be nearby as they seem to be for other riders.

Gornall changed the tyre himself. What a job, he mused later. By the time he had got the tyre off the rim Curran had gone past. By the time the new tyre was on and Gornall was pumping it up, Longbottom had gone past.

Gornall finished 22nd in 1-22-55.

Another not to be put off was Dominic Sweeney. The VC Chesterfield rider was baulked by a car on the line after one lap of the circuit.

Quick thinking Sweeney took to the verge to get by. It probably cost him fourth place. He was fifth in a time of 1-17-34.

There was a bonus for spectators at the presentation. In addition to the advertised appearance of women's End-to-End record breaker Pauline Strong, who presented the awards, the new men's record holder, Andy Wilkinson, was also there. The Merseyside pair received a round of applause in recognition of a great Mersey double.

RESULTS

1. CHRIS BOARDMAN (Manchester Wh-Trumanns Steel) 1-15-1
2. P. Curran (unsponsored) 1-15-46
3. P. Longbottom (Manchester Wh) 1-16-35
4. M. Postle (Coidra RC) 1-17-31
5. D. Sweeney (VO Chesterfield) 1-17-34
6. R. Hughes (Manchester Wh) 1-18-10
7. R. Prebble (Gloucester City CC) 1-18-23
8. S. Lillistone (Team Haverhill) 1-18-40
9. T. Hall (Liverpool Mercury) 1-19-38
10. I. Browning (Poly CC) 1-19-52

Women.- JULIE HILL (Liverpool Mercury-Townsend Cycles) 1-27-44.