Chief Petty Officer Sean Childs, Warrant Officer Class 1 Garry 'Scooby' Drew and Colour Sergeant Stuart 'Nutty' Edwards, all based at HMS Raleigh, represented the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Cycling Association in the championship held at Farndon, Cheshire, along with Lieutenant Jason Sawyer, former sailor Bob Richards and Brian Kilgannon who previously served in the Royal Marines.
CPO Childs rode in to take the individual second place in the event, clocking up a total of 492.41 miles (792.5km) and setting a new Combined Service record. CPO Childs maintained an average speed of 20 miles per hour (32km/h) but narrowly missed out on the individual top honours by just five miles (8km).
A keen sportsman, he decided to concentrate solely on cycling in 2004 and has been unbeaten by a Navy cyclist in a time trial for the past five years.
CPO Childs, a Physical Training Instructor, has been scoring wins at all distances from ten miles (16km) to 12 hours. The Icknield RC '12' was one of his more recent successes, winning with 277.42 miles (446.5km) ahead of his team-mate WO1 Drew.
Just ten days before the 24-hour race he had the misfortune of suffering a fall during a night-time training ride, resulting in hospital treatment.
"Sleep deprivation was also hideous and I almost fell asleep twice on the bike during the night-time due to tiredness and fatigue. However my support crew were fantastic and even managed to provide me with a full cooked breakfast at 0200hrs in the morning, which picked me up."
Chief Petty Officer Sean Childs
CPO Childs said:
"Although I have been training for this race since the latter end of 2008, I still felt that I was under-prepared come race day.
"The race itself is extremely physically and mentally demanding and you have to find the right balance of going as fast as you can without completely running out of energy.
"Sleep deprivation was also hideous and I almost fell asleep twice on the bike during the night-time due to tiredness and fatigue. However my support crew were fantastic and even managed to provide me with a full cooked breakfast at 0200hrs in the morning, which picked me up.
"I am extremely proud of how we performed as a team and that we are now national team champions; however personally I was slightly disappointed to come away with a silver medal and will be back next year to go one better and go beyond 500 miles [805km]."
CPO Childs' team-mate WO1 Drew has been competing in cycling time trials since 2002. He joined the Royal Navy in 1981 and is now back in the saddle after two years at sea.
During the 24-hour trial, WO1 Drew rode a total of 461.62 miles (743km), finishing in sixth place overall, despite suffering a problem with his knee 20 hours into the event.
He said:
"There is more distance in my legs and I reckon if I'd pushed myself a bit harder I could have done another ten miles [16km]. The hardest part was the last 13-mile [21km] loop. It was into the wind and up hill, which just sucked the energy out of me and I managed to complete about two-and-a-half laps."
Colour Sergeant Stuart Edwards
"Up until my knee gave way I was doing pretty well. I took a couple of painkillers and carried on. I was averaging about 19.5 miles per hour [31km/h] and, in the 24 hours, I was off the bike for just 20 minutes. The integral support from my wife, Deb, and two family friends was fantastic."
CSgt Edwards finished in ninth place overall, cycling a total of 432.65 miles (696km). The 44-year-old joined the Royal Marines in 1980 and took up cycling as his sport of choice in 2002.
He said:
"I was happy with the distance considering it was my first time. Looking back I think I could have gone a bit further.
"There is more distance in my legs and I reckon if I'd pushed myself a bit harder I could have done another ten miles [16km]. The hardest part was the last 13-mile [21km] loop. It was into the wind and up hill, which just sucked the energy out of me and I managed to complete about two-and-a-half laps."
Bob Richards, who currently works for VT Flagship, finished in 20th position, while Brian Kilgannon, a member of the MOD Guard Service, finished in 44th place. Mr Richards and Mr Kilgannon both work at HMS Raleigh. Lt Sawyer, who is based at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, finished 29th.
A total of 80 specialist endurance riders took part in the longest recognised distance race within the cycling time trial calendar and this year's winner John Warnock, of Twickenham Cycling Club, used his experience as twice previous runner-up in 2007 and 2008 to go one better this year.