The first edition of the Gravel Gauntlet might have had the purists muttering darkly under their breath about the purity of gravel, but second time around there was no such grizzling.

On August 30, 13 riders took to the starting line at one minute intervals, all with a standard mindset: go hard, don’t get caught, try to catch those in front.

On pristine gravel and in perfect weather, fast times were always likely and so it proved to be the case.

Visitor Mark Smith laid down a very fast time of 40mins.29secs minutes, setting the benchmark for those to follow.

Jill Bascombe, the only competitor on a mountain bike, lopped over five minutes off last year’s time to finish inside the hour for the 23.6km course.

The third of the female riders, Ruth Highman rode well in her first outing on her bike in over a month finishing just ahead of Bascombe after battling for position with Ted Lord all race.

Paul Gibson was another rider to record a big improvement on last year to finish in 48:52 minutes at an average speed of 29km/h, a strong result given the undulating nature of the course.

Anton Davey rode well despite tyre issues, having suffered a pre-race puncture and then making do with a donated ‘second best’ tube that may not have been wholly airtight.

In the middle of the field the competition was tight with seven riders finishing within three minutes of each other keeping timekeeper, Ian Donaldson, on his toes.

Michael Gardiner held off Brent Schoof to finish third in 43:44 (32.4km/h).

Matt Bascombe led home a flurry of riders at around 45 minutes.

In this group, the two Denmark riders Kea Mumford and David Beckwith battled for town boasting rights with Beckwith prevailing by 90 seconds, having proved a little stronger on the uphill sections.

Mumford was the fastest female on the day, averaging 30.3km/h in a good preparation ride for the Gravel World Championships in October.

The last rider to start, Brett Dal Pozzo obliterated the field and lowered the race record by three minutes to 35:52.

He scorched around the course at over 39km/h, thundering past all other competitors bar Smith: an impressive effort.

Thanks as ever to our volunteers for setting out and collecting the signs, manning the start finish and the turn and ensuring that all the racers were safe on course.