MANX rider Elliot Baxter won yesterday’s Manx End to End challenge in a time of three hours 18 minutes and five seconds.
Baxter, riding under the Bikestyle RT banner, came fourth last year.
On Sunday he beat Scott UK’s Nick Craig who came in at 3:26:06. The Englishman, a former Olympian, had been targeting a fifth consecutive End to End title.
Edward Perry came third, recording a time of 3:28:14.
There were 1,689 entries in the field.
Now in its 16th year, the End to End is a notoriously tough event, with riders having to tackle a variety of terrain and climb more than 1,500m, as they ride 42 miles from the Point of Ayre to Cregneash. This year the Sleepwell Hotels-sponsored event was tougher than ever, with significant changes made to the route, coupled with underlying amounts of water in certain sections after the summer’s bad weather.
End to End Challenge Results (top 50): 1, Elliot Baxter 3:18.05; 2, Nick Craig 3:26.06; 3, Edward Perry 3:28.14; 4, Rob Sorby 3:28.54; 5, Simon Rodgers 3:30.49; 6, Matt Clinton 3:31.15; 7, Mark Harrison 3:36.23; 8, Aaron Livsey 3:38.36; 9, Phil Simcock 3:38.56; 10, Martyn Brookes 3:41.10; 11, Tim Mackley 3:42.15; 12, Paul Kneen 3:43.09; 13, Andrew Windrum 3:44.07; 14, Ben Corkill 3:45.30; 15, Bruce Rollinson 3:47.07; 16, Reg Haigh 3:47.09; 17, Tony Lowe 3:49.10; 18, Simon Macnamara 3:49.39; 19, Peter Harrison 3:49.43; 20, Christian Aucote 3:50.28; 21, Gary Johnston 3:50.36; 22, David Glover 3:50.50; 23, Trevor Kirkwood 3:51.38; 24, Chris Looney 3:51.50; 25, Mark Blair 3:52.27; 26, Mitch Jones 3:52.34; 26, Max Bezance 3:52.34; 28, Simon Skillicorn 3:52.49; 29, Tony Varley 3:52.59; 30, Ronan O’Toole 3:53.14; 31, Graeme Saunders 3:53.17; 32, Timothy Bishop 3:53.45; 33, Julian Corlett 3:53.56; 34, Matt Dewis 3:55.02; 35, Matthew James 3:55.46; 36, Juan Kinley 3:56.17; 37, Nick Corlett 3:57.01; 38, Graham Fielding 3:57.10; 39, Nick Kirke 3:57.22; 40, Juan Kinnish 3:57.44; 41, Lee Clayton 3:57.59; 42, James Atkinson 3:58.21; 43, Neil Jeffries 3:59.22; 44, Steve Atkinson 4:00.07; 45, Steve Franklin 4:00.11; 46, Ian Petherbridge 4:00.22; 47, Graeme Rolinson 4:02.01; 48, David Harrison 4:02.15; 49, Gus French 4:05.05; 50, Brian Osborne 4:05.09;
l More covering in Friday’s Manx Independent.