An 11-strong team of CHC staff present and past took part in the
Isle of Wight Randonnee on Bank Holiday Sunday, 30th April, completing the clockwise 100km round the Island cycle route in an impressive five hours and 45 minutes. The unpredictable weather and occasional rain failed to dampen spirits and a great day out biking was had by all. See our team photo above and even a few verses below from our very own in-house poet!
From East Cowes we all set out
Amongst the crowd who cheer and shout
Atop the hill our first repair
A chain failure caused us despair!
We patched it up and on our way
Teamwork; chosen word of the day
On we flew to the first of stops
Feet on the ground near Firestone Copse.
A headwind tried to hold us up
Bembridge next, tea in a cup!
Towards the Downs we pressed on
Freshly made cakes in Alverstone.
Whitwell next and came the rain
Blackgang climb an energy drain
Freshwater saw our team’s first puncture
Then Yarmouth for a soaking juncture.
Pushing on, the drizzle ceased
With home in sight the pace increased
Newbridge, Newtown both whizzed by
Porchfield just the blink of an eye.
Shepards Wharf, we reached our goal
Left jelly babies were soon stole
The team performed exceedingly well
Laughs galore and not quite hell!
By JK/CHCTop photoBack row L-R: Jon Kidd, Darren Gough, Tom Harbottle, Paul Carr, Shaun Turner, Justin Sowerby, Simon Banks
Front row L-R: Barry Watkin (ex-CHC), Jock Rafferty, Stewart Mackenzie, Jon Gregg (ex-CHC)
CHC team Isle of Wight Randonnee result