DEAN Robson came close to breaking the course record as he won the Dursley Road Club Open Time Trial on Saturday.

Robson, from Cheltenham and County Cycling Club, recorded a time of 20 minutes 39 seconds for the classic U7B 10-mile course.

And that was less than a minute behind the record set by Stuart Dodds back in 2011, who completed the course in 19mins 58secs.

But it was a sterling effort from Robson and the other competitors in the race given the windy conditions that helped the riders on the outward leg but blew in their faces and gave them a tough return to the finish line.

The event was great credit to Dursley RC secretary Billy Oliver who, despite moving up to compete at national level, showed he is still a clubman at heart by organising the event.

Assisted by the hard working team from Dursley RC, Oliver used Stone Cricket Club as the event headquarters, and a field of nearly fifty cyclists started from a lay-by just up from the HQ.

The U7B course runs along the A38 to the Slimbridge roundabout before looping around it and back along the main road.

But Oliver and the Dursley RC faithful must have feared the worst when they woke on race day to be greeted by a grey, wet and windy morning.

Fortunately, the weather improved and by the time the first rider set off at 2.01pm, the conditions were almost perfect.

The wind proved to be a double-edged sword and, while it assisted a few riders in breaking 40mph at times on the out leg, it made the return leg an energy-sapping battle.

The event saw a healthy mix of cyclists from 15 to 75 years of age competing on both standard road as well as full-blown time trial bikes.

While Robson took the main prize, there were other winners in different classes on the day.

Crystal Spearman, from the Nopinz team, took the women’s title on Saturday, while Lee Ashton, of Sodbury Cycle Sport, was the first Veteran40 home.

Steve Cottington, from Cadence Road Team, was the first rider back in the V50 class, while Roger Taylor, from Frome and District, won the V60s.

Norman Fenn, of The Tricycle Association, proved you are never too old to win a prize by taking the Veteran 70 class, while Felix Wilkinson, from Veloton Team, was home in front of everyone else in the specialist Road Bike class.

And there was a winning moment for the host club as Dursley RC won the Team title.

l The wind seemed to have it in for all Dursley RC riders over the weekend, with Derek Smetham having to fight it on Sunday to take a well-earned third place in the 23-mile ‘Swindon Hilly’ Time Trial.