THE second round of the Hereford Wheelers 10-mile series took place on the Leominster Arrow course in ideal weather which brought a large field of 58 riders.

The out-and-back course winds its way down to Cadbury’s roundabout turning left on to the A49 to the first roundabout, where the riders encircle and return via Cadbury’s island to finish.

The allocation of points has been changed to allow for the large number of riders. The winner will now be awarded 70 points for first, second will receive 69, and third will have 68.

At the end of the year the best 10 finishes will be calculated and the winner will be the rider with the most points.

Wheeler Ian Rivers again maintained his hold over the rest of the field by taking first place by nearly a minute from Jon Tetley with Alex Haines in third place.

In the Ladies competition Sarah Lloyd-Stephens easily took first place by over a minute-and-a-half from the field of seven ladies.

The top five positions were: 1 Ian Rivers 22.12, 2 Jon Tetley 23.04, 3 Alex Haines 23.43, 4 Pete Ding 23.46, 5 Chris Hughes 24.10.

The top five lady-riders were: 1 Sarah Lloyd-Stephens 26.26, 2 Gaby McDermott 28.03, 3 Nicola Goodwin 28.05, 4 Tricia Wright 28.42, 5 Claire Hebblethwaite 31.12.

The third round of the TT series took place on the Lugg Bridge course.

Of the four different courses used by the host club, this course is rated number three. It has two steep climbs and a very broken and damaged road surface making it an advantage to the lighter slight riders.

The majority of the riders’ times were below par but the large turnout of 55 competitors made the evening a great social event.

Rivers took first place again but second position looks to be where the cameras need to focus.

Tetley and Haines are locked in competition, showing that the rest of the season is going to be a very long and close battle.

In the Ladies event, Sarah Lloyd-Stephens took first place again to stamp her authority over the rest of the field with a third straight win.

The top five positions were: 1 Ian Rivers 22.36, 2 Jon Tetley 23.32, 3 Alex Haines 23.32, 4 Richard Lambert 24.04, 5 Steve King 24.15.

The top five lady riders were: 1 Sarah Lloyd-Stephens 26.55, 2 Tricia Wright 27.41, 3 Gaby McDermott 28.56, 4 Jo Crisall 31.17, 5 Debbie Clarke 32.25.

Rivers was again at the head of the field when Wheelers made their first of three visits to the Yazor 10-mile course.

Even though this is the toughest of the four 10-mile courses, it still brought out a large field of 57 riders all eager to collect the valuable points needed in each of the three league tables.

Rivers took his predictable first place on this the fourth event of the year and now has 280 points in the points competition.

The exciting competition is in the lower ranks where single points are going to make all the difference by the end of the year.

At the finish line, 11 riders finished within the 26 to 27 minute barrier. The leading rider at this point was Climb on Rider Luke Bradford in a time of 26 minutes and 5 seconds.

Eight ladies took part in this event with Sarah Lloyd-Stephens taking first place from Nicola Goodwin by 22 seconds.

The top five positions were: 1 Ian Rivers 23.00, 2 Jon Tetley 23.22, 3 Alex Haines 23.33, 4 Richard Lambert 23.44, 5 Chris Hughes 24.01.

The top five lady riders were: 1 Sarah Lloyd-Stephens 27.18, 2 Nicola Goodwin 27.40, 3 Tricia Wright 28.36, 4 Claire Hebblethwaite 28.44, 5 Jo Crisall 30.21.

Tonight’s (Thursday’s) ‘10’ mile Time Trial will be the second visit to the Allensmore circuit and will start at 7pm.

For any information please contact Chris on 271829 or look on the website at www.herefordwheelers.com