A 21-year-old record was shattered twice when Essex Roads Cycling Club member John Yates promoted a 50-mile tandem race.

Essex pair Ewan Hendon and Les Palmer beat the previous best by clocking 1hr 37m 59s - but that was still well behind Yorkshire's Jon Rickards and Simon Keeton.

They topped the 1978 mark by more than four minutes, finishing in 1hr 35:37m.

Chelmsford's Sue Gray and Colchester's Julie Baker smashed the ladies record by a similar margin, with 1:46:19.

Essex Roads' Nick Hastler grabbed a commendable second place in the solo competition, with a personal best 1:50:32, behind Colchester's Rick Van Looy (1:43:10).

Nigel Brooks, of Essex Roads, was also a runner-up - in the Chelmer CC road race - after a keenly-fought contest in which he broke clear with two other cyclists.

Team-mate Graham Beale retained the Evening Ten-mile Championship, after coming second to Hastler in the last two events of the series.

Evening Ten results - race one: Hastler 21:21, Beale 22:52, Mark Stanbury 24:45, Dave Griffiths 25:42, Russell Fisher 25:44, Colin Allabush 26:12, Stuart Jago 26:19, David Spraggins 26:47, Pete McRobert 28:21, Tim Turner 28: 54.

Race two: Hastler 22:06, Beale 23:32, Dave Lobley 25:53, Fisher 26:58, Jago 26:59, Griffiths 27:31, McRobert 27:31, Turner 28:34, Lucy Thompson 29:13.

Curtis gets on his bike at cycle skills contest

Easy rider - Five-year-old Curtis Phillips, from Rayleigh, displays his cycling prowess at a bike skills competition held at Southend Tennis and Leisure Centre.

The event, organised in conjunction with Southend Wheelers cycling club and Southend Council, was staged to promote the benefits of pedal power to the area's youngsters and to encourage safe cycle control

Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.