3 peaks cyclo cross

Tim Gould finished 13th overall and first in his age group - not bad for a beginner
Dan Alexander was 36th.

Further report courtesy of Harry:

Matlock's Zepnat team were well represented in today's "World's Toughest Cyclo Cross" covering the "3 Peaks" circuit of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-Y-Ghent covering a total of 38 miles.

Their Tim Gould returned to racing after a 14 year gap to compete in the 50+ years category - which he won in 3hours 18 minutes and 11 seconds thereby setting a new course record for that age group. He led the Zepnat team home.

Finishing 13th out of over 600 starter, he was very unlucky to first puncture after the second peak. He blew up his flat tyre with a gas cylinder and not only caught back those that passed him and reached the third peak in actual 10th place of after one of the fastest climbs of it by any rider. He said his legs felt specially strong. Then more trouble hit him. Tim's punctured tyre went flat again, bouncing along over the stones on his rim he reached a spare bike from his brother and then his chain broke after 5 minutes to make the bike unrideable. A spectator gave him his bike and he managed on that until he later met Jill his wife and got one of his own spare bikes. Jill then had the problem of finding the person who had lent Tim the bike she changed that took some while!

In the process, Tim lost 10 minutes on the riders who passed him and that meant that he finished outside the top ten.

Zepnat with Dan Alexander and Steve Barnes won the prize for 3rd Veteran Team and their Steve Barnes and son Chris won the the award for their "Father and son" placing.

Tim will ride the National Trophy Series which starts October 12th at Shrewsbury.

Well done to all the team!