Four velos travelled to Brands Hatch to take on the Kentish Killer sportive, which takes in a number of challenging hills around West Kent, and into the Ashdown Forest.

The 70 miles began with a lap of the Brands Hatch circuit before heading out onto the open roads. First back for the velo was Rob Kennison is a time o 4:17:49, with Jon Graciano next home in 4:40:29. Rachel Hartridge finished in 5:08:51, and Andy Hawes completed the distance in an official time of 5:25:49.

Well done all.

Velo riders Rob Kennison and Rachel Hartridge travelled to Westerham to take on the Hell of the Ashdown sportive, an 100km event which takes in a number of tough climbs well known to the cyclists to West Kent, including Kidds Hill, Groombridge Hill and Ide Hill, with total altitude gain of 1,800 metres.

Rob completed the event in just under 4 hours, with Rachel taking just over 4 and half hours to cover the distance.

Well done both!

Velo’s Matt Nunn put on another show of strength at the Lea Valley Tack League, including grabbing a win in the block pursuit.

After claiming 9th in the opening scratch race, he took 4th place in the win out before leading his team across the line in the block pursuit. The final race of the evening, the elimination race saw Matt claim 7th place to round off an evening of top ten performances.

Well done Matt!

The end of January saw a number of velo riders preparing for the forthcoming season in a variety of ways.

Matt Nunn raced at the track league at the Lee Valley velodrome, performing strongly across a number of disciplines; the opening 30 lap scratch race saw Matt having to demonstrate his bike handling skills to avoid a crash, however this did not hold him back as he claimed 10th place. Matt performances got better as the evening went on, taking 7th in the tempo race after breaking away for a number of laps. In the devil his performance continued to improve, claiming fifth place, however he saved the best until last with a podium place in the points race, launching a big attack, and then hanging on in the sprints to finish third.

Elsewhere, a group of velo riders took a more old school approach to their season’s preparation by completing the Ian Stone Reliability ride organised by Gravesend CC and CTC. Reliability rides are regarded as a test of a rider winter training (and their winter bike) and the velo riders held up well; Rachel Hartridge, Fraser Blandford and Rob Kennison all opted for 100km route, completing the event in four and a half hours.

Well done to all, and thank to Gravesend CC & CTC for their organisation.

Rob Kennison represented velo in the final round of the East Kent Cyclocross held at Betteshanger Country park.

Benefitting from a recent group training session led by multiple former national champion Ian Field, Rob was able to beat some of the riders who had previously finished ahead of him, and claimed a creditable 16th place.

Velo’s Rob Kennison continued his cyclocross season and competed in round 6 of the BC National Trophy held at the Gravesend Cyclopark.

In tough conditions where rain just before the start meant that the course was slippery, Rob also suffered the misfortune of gears issue arising from a crash on lap 2 which meant he had to run around the course until he could swap bikes. Whilst Rob’s pit crew worked on his bike Rob raced a lap on his spare bike, but once on his preferred machine he was able to gain a few places in the field.

Distance	Date	Event	Course
10	3 June 2023	CC Bexley	Q10/24
15	8 October 2023	VTTA (all ages)	Q15/1
25	6 August 2023	West Kent RC	Q25/8
30	23 April 2023	VTTA (all ages)	Q30/3
50	9 July 2023	VTTA (all ages)	Q50/11
100	3 September 2023	Kent CA	Q100
Non standard distances
Hilly	29 May 2023	Brighton Mitre	GS/995
Hill Climb	24 September 2023	Wigmore CC	QHC/11
Team time trials
2 up	14 July 2023	Medway Velo (club event)	Q10/20
3 up	2 July 2023	KCA	Q25/3

As the Q25/8 course is often prone to roadworks, the reserve event for the 25 mile championship will be the VTTA (all ages) event on 10 September on the Q25/3 course.

A 12 hour championship event has not been nominated, the MVC rider achieving the highest distance will be awarded the championship, however they will need to notify the TT secretary of the event and distance.

The club has an annual triathlon championships; for 2023 this will be the Active Life Oysterman Triathlon on 9th July.

Velo’s Rob Kennison (pictured at the recent UCI Masters World Championships) braved the inclement weather to race the latest round of the East Kent Cyclo Cross League held at the Lydden Hill motor racing circuit near Dover.

In conditions described as brutally cold with ice still on the ground and a strong wind blowing, Rob had a couple of slips on the ice, and was forced to change his bike after the second incident. Despite these mishaps Rob finished in 10th place in the V50 race.

Well done Rob!

Velo Vice President, founder member, and life member Vic Williams has passed away.

Prior to the Velo’s formation he was a leading member of the Medway Road Club, and along with Geoff Wiles was a key force in the founding of the club. He took an active role in the governance, not only of the club, but also the discipline of time trialling, as he had served on the local district committee of what is now the CTT since the 1960s, retiring from his role of Hon Assistant Secretary in the last few years. Vic took great pride in being elected to life membership of the Medway Velo, and had served in a number of positions on the club committee. His support for time trialling was unwavering, being a Vice President of the Kent Cycling Association, a holder of the prestigious RTTC Gold Badge of Honour, a member of the CTT appeals panel, and often being a timekeeper at local events, including many years service at the Wigmore CC hill climb. Vic had also been an event organiser, and a supporter of members whenever they rode, including providing invaluable assistance to a number of velo riders when they broke club records at a number of distances.

He will be fondly remembered by all club members, and we send our condolences to his family.

Club chair Rob Kennison reflected the views of all velo members when he remarked “Will always remember and be grateful for the thousands of hours Vic put in so that others could enjoy the sport”.

A minute’s silence was held as a mark of respect at the 2022 Club Annual General Meeting, and the club will be looking to mark his life and service to the sport in the forthcoming year.