CW Club 10 Ð Dr Hutch pipped at the post
There were two dominant wins in last week’s CW Zwift race
Former UK Ironman champion Philip Graves took the win in the second CW Club 10 TT on Zwift, which took place last Wednesday (22 July). The 31-year-old Yorkshireman covered the 10 miles of the largely flat Tempus Fugit course in 20.22, averaging 414 watts, giving him a 41-second winning margin over CW’S Michael Hutchinson in second. William Blake finished third, in 21.22.
“I tried not to go mental at the start,” Graves told CW. “With 4k to go, I saw Hutch [Michael Hutchinson] 30 seconds up the road – I first raced him in 2009 in the National 100, where he beat me by 10 minutes, but I still finished third – so that gave me a good carrot to chase when it really started to hurt.”
In the women’s race, Frances Owen put in a dominant performance, clocking a rapid 21.46, the best part of three minutes faster than second-placed Claire Jessop, who was also runner-up the previous week. Third place was taken by Lizzie Zoom.
“I’d hit a power PB of 311 watts for just shy of 20 minutes during a Zwift race the day before,” said 28-year-old Owen, “so that was my target power, but I missed it by 10 watts.”
Still, 301 watts is impressive, given that Owen took up triathlon only two years ago. The Wrexham-based rider describes herself as a “complete newbie” – so far Zwift and Qom-chasing are her main forms of competition.
“I plan on focusing on TTS and hill climbs, maybe some road races,” she added. “I’m gonna throw it all at the wall and see what sticks.”