On Sunday, August 13th, The Annual Kevin Raper 50 Km Time Trial returned to the small village of Warkworth located in the municipality of Trent Hills and hosted by the Cobourg Cycling Club. The morning felt cool with a 17 km/hr. wind from the West with 2 of our club members facing the ambitious course.
The course consists of 2 laps of a 25 km loop that has the riders facing approximately 400 m of elevation gain per lap, for a total of 800m for the 50km event.
Dave Singfield once again officiated the event and we had two caravan vehicles to spot the riders throughout the course.
Eric Barnhorst was first rider off and the minute man for Matt Hunter. At the top of Concession Road 3 Matt caught Eric and banked his 1 minute. Eric held strong keeping Matt within a few bikes length view. Matt Hunter and Eric Barnhorst completed the first lap respectably, Matt's first lap finish time was 40:40 and Eric completed his first lap in 42:37.
Both riders attacked their second lap with confidence, however with 1.5 km to go Matt experienced a cramp and had to make a withdrawal and lost about 3 minutes. Brent who was following in the spotter vehicle was able to stop and assist Matt. It was at this point that Eric banked his lost time and passed Matt. It didn't take long though for the initial disappointment to vanish and the fire to reignite and Matt was back on his bike and determined to cross that finish line on his bike.
The finishing times for the 2023 Kevin Raper 50K Time Trial were Eric Barnhorst 1:26:13 and Matt Hunter 1:26:52.
A big thank you to Dot Singfield for another year supporting us in our crazy bike adventures. Thank you to the riders for braving a tough course on a cool and windy Sunday morning. To our commissaire/ official extraordinaire, Dave Singfield, for his untiring dedication to our club. A final thank you to Greg, Brent and Janet who had the best seats in the house spotting the riders on the course.
Already planning for next years event!