Duo Normand

DUO NORMAND REPORT 

Its difficult to know where to start.... sunshine, dry roads & no wind....a great weekend was had by all apart from perhaps the pair of Tony Moffa & Sean Bosio, who were allowed to stray off course by the Marshalls and cycled an extra few miles which rather spoilt their race. There were PBs all over the place and with so many Velo pairs, ably assisted by a couple of friends from the 3Cs, I lost count (ran out of fingers); but we had at least 15 pairs and it may have been as many as 18 (36 riders). I suspect we were the largest club representation there...fantastic. Look out for photos from various sources.

In the ladies Laura & Jo had a good race posting a very respectable 12^th in their category. In the mixed Paul & Nicky, recovering from illness, were pleased with their time as was Mary & Pete Duval (CCC) and Jim & Mike Mitch placed an excellent 5^th in approx 1.28 against tough opposition. They also had the satisfaction of overtaking Bradley Wiggins warming up prior to his later start, sadly the back up team in the car were so busy trying to keep up with our pair this fantastic photo opportunity was missed...c’est la vie. 

 The real highlight was in the non licensee category with a huge Velo turn out. To win 4 out of the top ten places is a stunning performance by any measure...Paul & Tim 1^st (1.20), Doc King & Kevin Pilley (CCC) 2^nd (1.22), Peter Ilton & Mike Keighrey 4^th, Bill Buist & Mick Higginson 10^th. Not far behind was Nick Le Coq (note the correct spelling...no, don’t ask) & Spencer, Steve Whiteside & Sean Twohig, Me & Harvey, Alan Livesey & Anthony, Tony Pushman & Des and finally Alex & Pete Jolley. Full results can be found on the Duo web site and I will try and take an extract of all the Velo results. Not bad having a Velo pair on the same stage at the prizegiving as  Bradley who won the elite category in a time of 1.07 (there should be photos available soon). Apologies if I have missed any one. 

On the social side we had a great meal on the Saturday evening at the Pergola in the middle of St Lo with 28 people attending......and being very restrained in their consumption of anything that could damage their performance the next day. Eight of the pairs moved on to Dinan on the Sunday evening and celebrated in style with a few sore heads the next morning as I’m sure various other groups elsewhere did. I, unlike last year, was very restrained for lots of good reasons and was very glad I did with a bumpy crossing on the way back early Monday morning.  

The general rule is that what goes on tour stays on tour so I am barred from telling the more salacious stories....I am however willing to confirm it is possible to spend a penny in a water bottle in the back of Mike Mitchs car on the move and not spill a drop...now that’s real talent!

Results

Non Licencees (103 pairs taking part)

 Mixed pairs

 Ladies (Shorter course)