Thank you all for your comments — I'll make sure I pass those on to the team — Ewa, Ben, Alex and Alex. I'll do a fuller write-up, with pictures, in due course.
Well done to all the riders who started and finished — it was a tough day for all but the quickest 100km riders and yanto, as once it started raining then the windchill was magnified — for the first time ever we had to break out the foil blankets for some riders, who came back borderline hypothermic. Ewa's hot soup took the edge off it, and riders stayed for longer than usual to warm up before making their various ways home. Impromptu car-shares popped up around the hall as riders begged lifts so as to avoid going back out into the cold to ride their various ways home
As for Toby-the-ten-year-old — Toby and his dad, Elliot, got around the 100km event with twenty minutes to spare to a round of applause. Toby was pretty knackered after the mix of head/cross-headwind after the turn at Thaxted in bitterly cold, wet conditions, but he dug deep and rode through it and was really pleased to have completed it, and his Mum was somewhat relieved. Ewa made him a frothy hot chocolate to celebrate. Twenty minutes later he looked like he was ready to do it all again
My sincerest heart-felt thanks to the team who made the event happen — Ewa, Ben and AlexW at the hall, and Alex B who roamed both routes taking photos and stamping brevets