Ythan Hilly 20 mile TT on 30 April 2006  

Ten Ythan riders lined up for the Ythan Hilly 20 on a glorious, if still slightly cool day. There were still a few notable figures missing from the Ythan ranks, Fiona Duncan is still under the weather with a throat infection, Ian Adams had been out for a light jog the day before and ‘was feeling a little achy’, Charlie Allan was milking his tupps (or something) and Gordon Jack couldn’t find his time trial bike because he doesn’t have a light in his garage.  

David McIntosh and Alistair Helm were first away pursued by Martin Booth, Steve Argo, Carol Middleton and Alan Yeatman. It was like a confined TT in the early stages with only Ythan riders on the road. Steve Argo posted a fine 50.14, Alistair a very respectable 56.30, David 63.09, Carol 62.26 and Martin with a 65.05 was a remarkable 11 minutes quicker than his time from the previous year.  

Alan Yeatman decided to dismantle his bike near the summit of Raxton Hill despite all the exotic bits of carbon fibre attached to his machine he still needed to shave some grams off the overall weight, sadly the performance of his bike is adversely affected when it only has one crank!  

Graham Ward and Andy ‘Italian Stallion’ Duncan were next away. Graham’s high cadence style served him well enough on the uphill sections though he and Andy were both caught and passed before the Auchnagatt turn, Graham finishing in 60.32. Andy continued the Italian theme from his new bike by riding much of the race in the style of  Pavarotti (sweating a lot and making weird noises in a foreign language) finishing with a 57.55.  

Russ Craig and Bill Dallas completed the Ythan line-up. Russ having warmed up on the dual carriageway coming through from Aberdeen , continued with the motorway speeds clocking a 49.38 with Bill just behind him at 49.53.  

There was a strong field with some excellent times, particularly Peter Ettles from Forres who took the win in a spectacular 46.03.  The race was well organised, well marshalled and if they could just take out all the hills it would be a great course too!

Race report from Andy Duncan  

RESULTS

1^st  P. Ettles                (Forres)                    46.03

2^nd A. Watt                 (C21)                      48.05

3^rd S. Monaghan         (TCG)                     48.11

4^th  K. McCool            (C21)                      48.59

5^th  C. Duncan            (TCG)                      49.00

6^th  N. Skene               (GCRT)                   49.26

7^th  R.CRAIG            (YTHAN)               49.38

8^th  S. McIntosh          (TCG)                      49.44

9^th  B. DALLAS          (YTHAN)               49.53

10^th J. Blundsdon        (DTCC)                   49.57  

OTHERS

S. ARGO                    (YTHAN)        50.14

I. Watson                     (AWCC)          53.37

J. Allan                          (TCG)             54.22

B. Mackie                      (TCG)             54.41

M. Beattie                     (DTCC)           56.29

A. HELM                    (YTHAN)        56.30

P. Clark                          (DTCC)          56.50

A. DUNCAN                (YTHAN)       57.55

G. WARD                   (YTHAN)      1.00.32

D. McINTOSH           (YTHAN)      1.03.09

M. BOOTH  (Jr)        (YTHAN)      1.05.06

A. YEATMAN           (YTHAN)         DNF

D. Black                   (Sandy Wallace)   DNF  

WOMEN

1^st C. MIDDLETON (YTHAN)         1.02.26