HORWICH Cycling Club sent a strong team of 10 members to the 10 mile Southport Time Trial.

The club are leading the way with the most competitors from any regional side taking part in the tournament.

Club member Craig Sefton has been impressed by the response of the team in pursuit of success.

He said: "The turnout of Horwich riders during the early season has been great and stands the club in good stead going forward this year.

"I think they have been so popular because they are a chance to just turn up, sign on and race is pretty inviting.

"Also not needing a licence to race makes it much easier.

"The club is on the up in terms of rider quality. There seems to be a lot more strength and depth from new members who are taking to training and racing quickly."

The midweek time trials are taking place throughout the summer and they are all trying to break the 23 minute barrier which means they are averaging over 25mph.

This week, Horwich member Chris Bodenham completed the course in 23.02 on his second 10 mile TT of the year – which was a personal best time.

He said: "I was a bit disappointed with the previous weeks result, I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike, my pedalling technique was completely off and just couldn’t find a comfortable gear all the way round.

"It was my first 10 mile TT of the 2015 season and I set off far too quick and in far too difficult a gear with my power output through the roof.

"As a result I wilted in the second half of the race and ended up with a time of 23:20. It was not bad for a first outing at this distance and I have been racing the 25 mile distance so far this year so I didn’t really know what time to expect.

"This week though I look to right a few of the wrongs and if possible look to better last weeks’ time.

"I crossed the line in 23:02. 18 seconds quicker than last week, along with pacing the race far better and dealing with more challenging conditions too.

"I am very happy with the result but far more to come as the season progresses."

Sefton insists the time trial acts a perfect preparations for the rest of the season.

He said: "It keeps you on your limit for the full time.

"This is hard to do if training alone.

"It's probably almost impossible to push yourself so hard in a non race training session.

"We have members who live for Time trailing and all their training is based around time trials.

"However we have lots of members who race on the road or mountain bikes who regularly compete just for the training advantages.

"Usually a good time trialist will have the engine to be competitive in most disciplines. It's also a great indicator of your current fitness levels."