PTW

Sunny intervals and a moderate breeze - Race Time Temp 22°C

Pinch, punch it's the first of the month but, sadly, the last of our Thursday night's on the dual. With 36 hours to go, it looks dry and warm but with a 14-15mph north-easterly breeze.

Please note the earlier start time!!

Here are the essentials;

1. We meet up at the Neath Canal Car Park in Resolven for signing on from about 18.00hrs and closing at 18.30hrs for a prompt 18.45hrs race start.

2. You have to be a member of the PTW or a second-claim member of the PTW. There is no 'single race' fee - you have to join the club as a first-claim or second-claim member.

Course Description

START on the Vale of Neath Supplier Estate service road opposite Lamp Post No. 18. Proceed eastwards along the service road to the Resolven Roundabout (0.458 miles). (Safety Notice:- Do not cross the centre line of the road on the right hand bend). Take the 1st exit left along A465 dual carriageway westbound to the 1st exit left (4.862 miles). Continue up the loop to the small Tonna Roundabout where take the 1st exit to the large Aberdulais Interchange. Take the 4th exit (5.505 miles) to proceed down the slip road to re-join A465 dual carriageway. Proceed eastbound to the Resolven Roundabout where take 1st exit left to FINISH at the access road to the Canal Car Park on the cross-valley link road (10.006 miles).

A cracking final night on dual!

All in all, it was probably a better night than the weather forecast suggested and was best summarised by John Shehan as being "fast on the way out and not as hard as feared on the way back" and, on average, riders were only 11 seconds down on their seasons best (SB) with some very noteable exceptions!

Our ladies seem to take great pride in being first off and first back, last week it was Diane Wilson-Evans and this week it was Emma Davies who slashed 26 seconds off her PB to record 25:21 - a fantastic start to the night and it was a full two minutes before the next rider crossed the line in the shape of David Wilson-Evans on his way to a 23:38 passing Diane who was 21 seconds down on her SB. Our father and son Gower Boys were a bit off the pace last night and were both about a minute down on their SB's but will have an opportunity to set new PB's on the back road next week.

John Shehan is consistently knocking out 25's recently and his 25:29 was just 6 seconds over his SB and John almost held off Brad Davies who was 19 seconds off his recent SB. Rob Lucas was over a minute back on his SB whilst Hollie 'Pretty in Pink" Labunsky shaved 11 seconds off her SB and was also 11 seconds off a new PB. I'm not sure what Clinton Evans all-time PB is but he smashed his SB by 24 seconds to stop the watch at 21:09 and, along with Brad Davies, he did unfortunately catch a dithering car driver at the final turn. Dai Abbott took almost a full minute off his SB to finish 8th on the night and fractionally ahead of Mike Broadbent with both on 23:54 but were separated by a few 100th's of a second. Gareth Shanklin took a half-minute off last week's ride to finish 6th with 23:32 and can set a benchmark on the back road next week.

Our final four riders to start had mixed fortunes with Anthony Williams 14 seconds behind last week's ride to finish 5th whilst Graham Rogerson got to within 6 seconds of a new SB to finish 4th with a 22:11. Darrel Williams took 2 seconds off his SB to finish 3rd with a 21:55 and only just behind Neil Seaward who finished 2nd with a 21:41 meaning that Clinton Evans took the win with his 21:09 and by a decisive margin too. A few months ago Clinton mentioned to me that he was already planning and goal setting for 2023 and he appears to be well along the road in executing that plan. Well done Clinton!

Alfie's "man of the match" is tricky as four riders went forward by sizeable amounts, none more so than Dai Abbott, but there was one PB that was the cherry on the cake of a season of constant improvement that has surprised and delighted us all so the MOTM award goes to Emma Davies.

Thanks to Will for signage and whistles, Gareth for covering the turn, Dan for helping me at the finish and also to Team Howell for their ongoing project to feed us all next Thursday.