Honours were even between two Sussex time trialists at the National 50-mile Championship in Norfolk.

Brian Phillips (East Grinstead CC) had gone past the halfway point and was battling into an easterly wind when James Dear (In Gear RT) started 61 minutes later.

The pair finished exactly the same margin apart to share 25th place with identical times of 1hr.56min. 45sec.

The title was won by defending champion, Michael Hutchinson (Team MDT Giant) in 1hr.44min. 31sec.

This was only 21 seconds slower than his winning time of 12 months ago but in winning the title for a fourth successive year, the London-based Ulsterman increased his margin of victory from 1min.52sec to an impressive 4min.19sec.

Heavy rain made many roundabouts slippery on the 25-mile course on the A22 south of Maresfield and several riders for the Surrey/Sussex Veteran TTA refused to start.

Harry Featherstone (Eastbourne Rovers) set a time of 62 minutes to finish a massive 20min.20sec ahead of his standard time and was best on standard by more than a minute from West Sussex rival Roy Fairchild (Bognor Regis CC).

Rob Fuller (Brighton Mitre) finished second which was more than enough for him to win the overall classification in the 50km mid-summer series organised by Lewes Wanderers at Laughton.

Like the previous two events, the race was decided on a sprint finish, won by Phil Riley (Southborough Wheelers).

A record entry of just over 300 British riders are due in Dieppe this weekend for the annual Tour Of The Three Valleys in Normandy.

Ted Axford (Brighton CTC), a regular participant since this popular ride was first held in 1972, is one of the oldest riders taking part and has opted for the 190km route, the longest in a choice of five radiating from the French port.