Waky Tri Cyclo Cross 18th December

The penultimate round of the Yorkshire Points Cyclo-Cross Series took place at a frozen Thornes Park, Wakefield on Sunday.  Once again the Under 12 riders from Huddersfield were in good form. In the Under 8s race, Hannah Whitworth (Huddersfield RC) was first Girl, Dylan Boyes (Huddersfield Star Wheelers) was 4th Boy & the winner was Nathan Fortune (Pedalsport CC).  Ava Oxley riding for the promoting club, Wakefield Tri Club, was the winner in the Under 10s, Adam Fortune (Kirklees Cycling Academy) was first Boy & club mate Henry Hollyman was 2nd.  Holme Valley Wheeler Tom Ford was 3rd Boy.

The Under 12s race was a ding dong battle between Matt Taylor & Jenson Young with only 1 second in it at the finish line, Taylor got the win & his best result of the season.  Not far behind the Pedalsport CC duo was Mason Hollyman (Kirklees Cycling Academy) in 3rd with Holme Valley riders Jim Brown & Jack Ford in 4th & 5th.

Matt Taylor's Dad Chris Taylor (Pedalsport CC) was in fine form in the Veterans race leading from start to finish from club mate Mike Young in second.  Holme Valley Wheeler John Hick had a great result in 4th place despite crashing on a slippery banking.  Hick's club mate Steve Rimmer finished in 20th closely followed by Tim Beachill (Huddersfield RC) in 21st, Graham Piccavey (Huddersfield Star Wheelers) was 28th.

Last race of the day was the Senior & Juniors which was won by Rob Watson (Paul Milnes RT), Noel Clough (Wheelbase) was only 10 seconds back in 2nd & Jack Clarkson (Hope Factory Racing) in 3rd a further 17 seconds adrift.  Holme Valley Wheeler Lee Brown was 23rd.

Abby Mae Parkinson (RST Racing Team-Trigon) & Amira Mellor (Holme Valley Wheelers) spent the weekend in Belgium as part of a team of youngsters funded by the Yorkshire Cyclo-Cross Association, the Keith Edwards Cyclo-Cross Trust & the Dave Rayner Fund.  Cyclo-Cross is massive in Belgium so it was a great experience for all the riders.  In an extremely muddy race at Lichtervelde, about 30km south of Brugesk, Parkinson was 2nd & Mellor 4th

National Trophy Dec 12th

Here's what I sent to the paper last week had a few problems logging into my blog so bit late posting this.

The penultimate round of the National Trophy Cyclo-Cross series was held at a very muddy Peel Park in Bradford on Sunday.  From the first race onwards the course was treacherous with riders struggling to stay upright.

Best result of the day from the Huddersfield riders was a creditable 5th place for Abby Mae Parkinson (RST Racing Team-Trigon) in the Under 16 Girls race, won by Sarah Lomas (Matlock CC).  Holme Valley Wheeler's Amira Mellor was 7th place.  In the overall standings Mellor is now in 5th place with Parkinson catching up in 6th.

In the Junior race, series leader Joe Moses (Paul Milnes RT) relished the conditions & dominated the race, winning by 1min 19sec from National Champion Hugo Robinson (X RT/Elmy Cycles).  Jake Womersley, now riding for BBMBikes.com, had one of his better results of the season finishing in 8th place.

The Women's race was a close affair with Louise Robinson (Stourbridge CC), originally from Mirfield, battling it out with Annie Last (Boardman Elite), after 35 minutes of racing Last just pipped Robinson by 6 seconds for the win.

Kirklees Cycling Academy's Adam Fortune took the win in the Under 10 Boys race with club mate Henry Hollyman in 2nd.  Henry's brother Mason was 4th in the Under 12s race & Ruby & Dylan Boyes were 3rd place in their races the Under 12 Girls & Under 8 Boys.  Huddersfield Road Club's Hannah Whitworth was first Under 8 Girl.

Next event on the Cyclo-Cross calendar is the Yorkshire Points race at Thornes Park, Wakefield on Sunday.  As normal the Youth race is the first event of the day at 11am.

In the last Premier Division Track League event of 2011 at Manchester Velodrome former Holme Valley rider Gabz Cullaigh was once again in the thiick of the action racing in Group 1 last Tuesday.   Cullaigh won the Devil race, was 3rd in the 40 lap Scratch race & was 4th in the 50 Lap Points race.

Lee Brown (Holme Valley Wheelers) showed off his sprinting prowess in the last First Division event on Friday Night winning the 1km race.

North of England Cyclo-Cross Champs Dec 4th

Winter finally arrived for the North of England Cyclo-Cross Championships at Barnard Castle last Sunday.  Freezing cold winds & sleet & snow showers were the order of the day, the course had been used for a race the previous day & was covered in 2-3 inches of mud.

Hartshead youngster Abby-Mae Parkinson (RST Racing Team-Trigon) took her 2nd win in as many weeks in the Under 16 Girls race over 3 minutes ahead of her nearest rival Jessica Wikinson (Birkenhead CC). 

Jake Womersley (Aire Valley RT) was in the thick of the action in the Juniors race, Joe Moses (Paul Milnes RT) won by over 30 seconds but it was very close for the podium positions with Womersley just fading in the closing stages of the 45 minute race finishing in 4th place.

National Champion Paul Oldham (Hope Factory Racing) took the win in the Seniors event with team mate Jack Clarkson, from Halifax, showing some good form in 2nd place.

It was a slightly surprising result in the Veterans race with Noel Clough (Wheelbase) getting the better of team mate Chris Young, former Holme Valley Wheeler Richard Binks (Clay Cross RT) struggled with the conditions and finished in 19th place.  Graham Piccavey (Huddersfield Star Wheelers) was 29th.

The next big event on the Cyclo-Cross calendar is the National Trophy event at Peel Park, Bradford this Sunday.  Races start at 10.30am with the Veteran 40-49 category & finish with the Seniors/Under 23 race at 2.30pm.