Wheeler’s Championship “100”
Best Race in three centuries of club history Jon & Barry go ‘Head to Head’ in “100” Championship
In over 120 years of Rye cycling there can have been very few time trial championships as hard fought and competitive right down to the wire.
Twice champion Barry Goodsell was the clear favourite for this years event but Jon Beasley had other ideas. Starting two minutes behind Barry in the East Sussex Cycling Association event, which incorporates the Rye Wheelers “100” Championship, Jon made an enormous early effort and caught Barry after 10 miles.
He passed him and went ahead but never gained more than a minute. As the miles wore on Barry gradually gained, re-passed Jon and went away. At forty miles Barry was shocked to see Jon go flying by again but this time Barry re-passed within a few miles and at the fifty mile point, he was 30 seconds clear. This still gave Jon an actual lead of 1 minute 30 seconds.
Seasoned racing men shook their heads and expected this margin would soon be whittled away and Barry would be well in the overall lead by the 75 mile point. They were wrong. The distance between them had increased, but only to a minute, leaving Jon with a 60 sec. cushion to protect through the closing tough last quarter of the race.
Amazingly Jon rallied again and put in a desperate effort that got him back in sight of Barry. Just 25 seconds separated them on the road with ten miles to go putting Jon 1 mm. 35 secs. ahead overall. The Champion responded, using all his power and experience Barry put in seven very fast miles and the margin between them stretched again. By 99 miles Barry Goodsell’s great effort had clawed back all but 30 seconds of Jon Beasley’s lead. Jon got to the 99 mile point and knew he was still in with a chance. He picked up his speed, fighting off pain and fatigue, and raced on to the finish.
There was a nail biting time waiting for the official result to come through. Jon had won the day by just 28 seconds after four and three quarter hours of racing. Jon was timed at 4-45-05, Barry 4-45-33.
Barry had the consolation of beating his own Club record, but he only held it for 32 seconds.
Mark Nash rode well to take third place in 5-35-27. He had a good first fifty miles recording 2-36-37 but suffered badly over the last thirty or so miles. “I will train harder next year” he said at the end of the race.
Film From the “Rye’s Own” Film Archive Released Tuesday 22 September 2015
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