Worthing twins Chris and Simon McNamara were too strong for the other teams in the East Sussex CA's two-up time trial at Laughton.

Chris had to ride with a bandaged hand he injured in a crash at the recent Surrey Three Day race.

The VC Etoile pair covered the 24-mile course in 56min.26sec, to beat Hastings duo Steve Holland and Nick Rudkin (VC Bayeux) by 36 seconds.

Third place went to Andy Payne and Steve Woodbridge (GS Stella), who clocked 57min.48sec.

Martin Butcher and Clive Oxborrow (VC Etoile) were fourth in 58min. 33sec.

Fifth-placed Chris Stocks and Tony Brown (21st Century Airports), who recorded 59min.28sec, were the only other team to finish inside the hour on a windswept course that included Golden Cross and Ringmer.

The most remarkable ride of the day, however, didn't count officially. Hastings rider Martin Markowski (VC Bayeux) decided on a solo ride for training when team-mate Bruce Griffiths went down with a virus. He recorded a stunning 56min. 55sec.

He said: "To do well in these team events both riders have to be evenly matched as it is the time of the second rider that counts. The stronger riders often have to slow down to keep a team together, but I only had myself to worry about. I could have done with a partner in the last few miles into a headwind."

Watching the riders was Eastbourne's star veteran Harry Featherstone.

He should have been riding in the Redmon-25 but injured his back loading bags of compost onto a supermarket trolley.

The Redmon-25, over a course in the Horsham area, was won by national 50-mile champion Michael Hutchinson (MTD-Giant) in 52min.50sec.

Hastings rider Peter Tadros (Interbike) finished second in 54min. 8sec.

Marina Bloom (Crawley Wheelers) won the women's race in 1hr.4min.28sec.

Tony Richardson (Brighton Mitre) finished sixth overall in the Enduro three-day mountain bike race, held over three 40-mile stages and finishing at Reading.

Michael Thyer (Southwater Cycles) finished fourth in the Grand Veterans' race at the National Series mountain bike meeting in Suffolk.