This Is Guernsey

Dan Arblaster. (0554089)

A RECORD-BREAKING final day performance left Dan Arblaster sitting proudly at the top of the Easter Cycling Race classification.

Going into the event of the Guernsey Velo Club’s four-day festival, the overall standings were very tight with Tobyn Horton maintaining a very slender lead over Arblaster, James McLaughlin, Stuart Le Tissier and Tony Bleasdale.

The final race was a 25-mile handicap time trial centred on the west coast. The format meant that the differences in riders’ abilities would be evened out, leading to close results and any rider could win the race.

The riders got under way in far from ideal conditions, setting off at one-minute intervals in reverse order to the overall classification.

With an early start, Chris Le Page set the first significant time to beat of 1-03-24.

It was not until 23 riders later that the time was beaten by Aaron Bailey with 58-10, which many thought would be the winning time in poor conditions.

The overall leading riders came and went with visiting rider Adam Page two minutes off Bailey’s time and Horton, Le Tissier, Bleasdale and McLaughlin also did not get close to it.

One of the final riders to start, Arblaster set off intent on taking the overall victory and it was clear from the start that he was going to set an impressive time, catching many of the island’s top riders in front of him.

Arblaster’s final time was 57-20, nearly a minute faster than his closest rival and some two minutes faster than the junior record which, given the conditions, made the ride all the more impressive.

Riders were unsure who had won the handicap race or the overall standings as the times needed to be calculated.

It was not until the presentation meal that veteran Ray Pinchemain discovered that he had taken the victory in the 25-mile event with a handicap time of 52-03.

Allan Renyard was second, with Tim Martin, Ed Boorman and Jon Dorey, all of whom are veteran or grand veteran riders, rounding off the top five.

Steve Pipet, Mark Haggarty, Gary Wallbridge, Katrina Thomson and Tim Holmes completed the top 10.

The under-16 riders also competed over the same course with Callum Hill-Smith winning both the overall and handicap sections. His pre-handicap time of 1-06-38 was an impressive 16th fastest of the day.

Alex Wilson came second once the handicaps had been taken into consideration, narrowly beating Alistair Martin and Alex Falla.

The final time trial affected the overall standings with pre-race leader Horton managing only 27th place.

Arblaster managed to overtake him with his 14th to win the overall classification.

Horton was second with Le Tissier, Bleasdale and McLaughlin completing the top five and there were only four points separating them.

Tim Martin was the first veteran, narrowly beating Carl Thomson by half a point.

Katrina Thomson was the first woman with Tracy Dowinton just five points adrift in second place.

Hill-Smith maintained his dominance over the weekend with a clean sweep in all of the under 16 events taking the overall victory.