The main event in Yorkshire this week was the Yorkshire Regional Road Race Championships. ICC had no riders in the Senior elite mens or womens races, but were represented by two riders in the Masters category who raced in a combined masters and juniors race, on the Bulmer Bank circuit in the Howardian Hills.
Ged Millward and Steve Gott ended up 12th and 13th respectively although this sounds much better than the actuality on a day that both would probably rather forget. The race’s first obstacle was the fearsome descent of Terrington Bank, where pelotons often exceed 60mph, but restrained by a strong headwind the speed was only in the 50’s on Sunday. However there was immediate danger when a rider from Team Chevin’s bicycle developed a violent speed wobble on the descent. The rest of the bunch managed to avoid him as he wrestled to get it under control and an accident was averted. At this point both Ged and Steve were comfortably sheltering in the main pack and even starting to feel confident about their chances in the race.
However, the bunch were soon climbing the 1-in-5 slopes of Bulmer Bank, and with some world class juniors attacking at the front of the peloton, this signaled then end of any chances of a good position for Millward, as the aging twice-previous Championship winner (1982 and 1991) was unceremoniously dumped out of the back, demonstrating his lack of prowess in hill climbing. With plenty of vocal support around the course, Ged stuck to his task and persevered to the finish.
Meanwhile, Steve Gott was performing much better, climbing excellently and holding his place well in the tough field. Disaster struck at two-thirds distance when Steve suffered a massive attack of cramp. After a hiatus on the grass and with help from spectators, Steve eventually remounted and bravely limped to the finish, a sad end to what promised to be a successful performance.
In this week’s circuit races, Ilkley’s star performer was again Jim Adamson with another fine 2nd place in the 3/4 category race at UCLAN, surely a win is just around the corner. Whilst in the same category race at Colne, consistent Michael Strange came 11th.
The East Bradford CC 15m time trial was held near Boroughbridge and Ilkley’s David Leckenby was first over-fifty rider and 7th overall with 35mins 15secs, followed home by Liam Rees with 39:57. The fastest time of the day was a really rapid 31mins 26secs achieved by Ilkley CC tandem pairing of Doug Hart and Jake Unsworth.
On Thursday it was rainy and cold all day which put a few riders off competing in the evening time trial. But by the evening it had dried up, even though the riders had to battle a cool northerly wind making it the hardest evening of the season so far and times were pro rata slower for all the riders. Tom Asher was comfortably fastest on the night with 27min15secs, with the rest of the placings: 2) Ged Millward 27:47, 3) Michael Strange 29:46, 4) Liam Rees 29:52, 5) Paddy Carter 30:29, 6) John Tate 31:03, 7) Michael Harris 31:47, 8) Alizon Hargreaves 37:24
