WARRINGTON Road Club’s Steve Hilton ended his season in style by smashing the club record for a 30 mile time trial in the Mercia Road Club 30 mile championships.

Currently the club’s champion at 10 mile and 25 mile, and also the record holder for the 25-mile distance, Hilton set a 30 mile time of one hour one minutes 16 seconds.

The 45-year-old vet from Martinscroft competed in the time trial with more than 80 other top riders from the UK Northern section, finishing fifth on the day to break the previous club record by 1min 44sec.

Yet even with the impressive at the finish line, Hilton found himself frustrated knowing his time would have been faster had he not been held up at the tricky and technical roundabout at halfway point on the course with an untimely build up of traffic.

Hilton commented after the race: “I probably lost around 20 to 30secs at that point, which could have placed me as high as third overall”.

This timing would have been true as third place was Paul Flemming, of Preston Wheelers, who finished only 24 seconds ahead of him on the final time sheet.

As Flemming was Hilton’s minute man, the Warrington man could see him just ahead on the road noting: “I could see he was only just ahead of me at the turning point and I’m sure I would have been close to catching him.”

After winning the Manchester and District Cycling Association 25-mile championship in July, Hilton finalises his year’s success with this new 30-mile time trial club record.

He is likely to be crowned club champion and retain his 10 and 25-mile titles which will be confirmed later in the year.