Congratulations to the National Champion!

Congratulations to Jen Clegg who has just become the  age adjusted National Champion at 30 miles. I believe I’m right in saying that she now holds the National Records at 10, 15, 25, 30 and 50 miles, a real champion. 
Read on for her thrilling account of last weekend’s race.

 

The VTTA 30 mile Championship in Kent, 29 April 2025

The VTTA (Veterans Time Trials Association) invites us to stray beyond our usual haunts by designating championships around the country for each of the usual distances – 10, 15, 25, 30, 50 & 100. Most have an early-morning start that entails a Tripadvisor hunt for a B&B. That makes them an adventure with a fine British tradition. Last year kind B&B hosts in Telford invited me to return from a cold early-morning race in a rainstorm to enjoy a hot shower & an extremely welcome fry-up!

So, Saturday 28 April found me limping slowly through the Dartford crossing to Ashford Kent for the VTTA National 30-Mile Championship. I had a next-morning start time of 7.09. A preview on the VTTA website a few days before had taken my breath away.

“A good field of riders will compete for the titles, spanning the age ranges & the categories…. With defending champion Linda Dewhurst choosing not to ride this time, a new champion will be crowned. Of the female entries look out for 64-year-old Sarah Matthews (…a3crg) & 71-year-old Jen Clegg (Team Bottrill) ….”

Reading that electrified me – lovely but problematic (more about that below).

I arrived early enough to drive the course & discover every corner, hill and pothole, an important task: the next day one unfortunate friend banged into a pothole abd punctured. The Q30/3 course is on the dead straight A2070, perhaps an old Roman Road. The tarmac is smooth & the road wide. It has 8 roundabouts & lime-green willows that line the road to protect from side-winds. Initially flat, it climbs up to the turnaround roundabout at about 13.5 miles, dangling the prospect of a long downhill & a flat finish.

VTTA age-adjusted times (AAT) are also gender-adjusted, making it possible for a 71-year-old woman to compete with a 40 year-old man. (you can discover what your AAT is for every distance here:https://www.vtta.org.uk/standards ). This makes racing much more interesting. Engaging competitions for all are being developed in the Spindata section of the CTT site. Check out their ‘Tribes’ description, intended to enable people to compete who don’t have the time to travel far.

As predicted, the race was between me & Sarah. Being 7 years older my actual time has 21.06 subtracted from it for the AAT, Sarah 14.52. Starting 5 minutes after me, Sarah overtook me 3 miles from the end. That left us both calculating what that meant for whom as we rode to the finish line. Since my legs were thinking of cramping I waited until the ‘1 mile to go’ sign before burying myself, finishing in 1.19’23. That beat my Spindata prediction by over 5 minutes, took the national age 71 F record for 30m, and on AAT earned me both the 30m female champion’s jersey & the overall win for both genders (the Fred Thorpe Trophy). Happy days!

 

Changes this year

My regime & kit continue to evolve. Coach Matt Bottrill provides a regular commentary of genuine interest and encouragement, even when he is  away training in the US. He got me to the start in good condition having varied what we do according to the length of each race, this year with more emphasis on VO2 efforts to boost top-end power.

New glute exercises from S&C trainer in the gym mirror some Tadej used to warm up for a TT so must also be worthwhile! I also had a kit upgrade from Jack at Windmill Wheels who makes the whole system purr when he services it. He fitted this new back dropout to reduce turbulence, but anything new helps me to believe I can now go faster.

My final source of marginal change has been reflecting on mood & food. Since being too fiercely competitive might be contributing to my cramps, I dialled things down by watching a ton of boring snooker. While the right food is essential to complete a threshold-level 30 miles, what works at each distance at what time of day for any of us remains a work in progress. Racing with anything in my gut risks nausea. So for this early Sunday race I decided on a big Saturday lunch, a tiny supper, & a middle-of-the-night bowl of muesli. Then just coffee on waking, a pre-race gel, & another gel 40 mins into the race. That seemed to work ok so I’ll stick with this regime for a bit.

What was the race like?

The ride was exciting, safely managed by Kent & VTTA, and I got through all the potential problems (a railway crossing, a pedestrian light, a car boot sale – each marshalled to identify transgressors) scot-free. VTTA prize-giver Rachael Elliott, Sarah, & others in the HQ gave my first significant win a really generous reception. Over the following days cyclists from WVCC, Team Bottrill & informal cycling friends noticed & celebrated it with me, joined by other friends & family. It was a long journey to and from Kent in all sorts of ways: enjoyable & memorable.