Report: High Peak Road Race 2017

John Fiddies wins the High Peak Road Race based around the Derbyshire villages of Flagg, Monyash and Chelmorton

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Report: High Peak Road Race 2017

The High Peak Road Race takes in the “roof of Derbyshire” between the villages of Flagg, Monyash and Chelmorton. It’s a real roller-coaster of a route with each lap being 11.3km long and 176m elevation per lap. The riders pass the finish line 5 times before the final lap when, if all goes to plan, the riders from the three handicapped groups come together to contest a sprint. It’s run under The League International rules.

The race has had a few years off the calendar and returned in 2017 attracting 73 entries across 3 groups, long-markers (LM), middle-markers (MM) and scratch group (SG), with roughly equal numbers of riders in each groups. There were 8 DNS leaving 67 riders leaving Chelmorton village towards the start. The LMs set off with a 4 minute buffer before the MMs left and the SG set-off 5 minutes after that. Early on in the race the MMs mounted a chase and by the first crossing of the finish line they had already taken a chunk out of the deficit.

The SGs had a Prime on the second crossing of the finish line to help motivate a chase. This was fiercely contested with Chris Bailey taking 1st and Aaron Chambers-Smith and Luke Hind in 2nd and 3rd. By this time, Steve Hulme and Luke Porter had a break of 1 minute off the front of the LMs. Luke suffered a puncture and Steve was unable to hold off the combined chase of the LMs and the MMs once the MMs had caught the group. There was a further Prime on the 4th crossing of the line and Graham Waller took this. This was soon followed by a Prime win for Chris Bailey in the SG. By this stage, with 2 laps to go, the SG had closed the gap to 4:30 and looked set to continue eating away 2 minutes per lap.

The tough course was beginning to take its toll on the riders and the groups were getting smaller on each passing of the line. The SG was unable to close the gap down on the much larger combined group up the road. By the time the front group was approaching the finish line the speed was visibly increasing. John Fiddies (Team Lusso) passed the line a few bike lengths ahead of Michael Dodson who was then followed quickly by the bunch with Matt Lawton (Macclesfield Wheelers) taking 3rd.

All riders made it back to HQ without any incidents or crashes and the medics were sent home untroubled. Nearly 30 helpers were out on the course and in HQ which all contributed to a great race. We plan to be back in 2018 and hope to see a full rider list.

The race was supported by SkyHook Coaching, Colina Bikes, RGW Vehicle and Digital Exchange with a combined purse of £450. Thanks also go to the Chelmorton Institute for the use of their hall and the excellent catering.

Results
1st – John Fiddies, Team Lusso
2nd – Michael Dodson
3rd – Matt Lawton – Macclesfield Wheeelers
4th – Rob Blackburn
5th – Richard Coghill – Leek Cyclists’ Club
6th – Simon Holden – Macclesfield Wheelers

1st Female – Lisa Dickinson – Team Lusso

Category
J 101 – Aaron Chambers Smith, Bolsover & District CC
S 51 – Lee Grieve – 7 Hills CC
M 57 David Morrison
A 49 – John Catley – Barnsley RC
B 50 – James Gough – Barnsley RC
C 41 – John Hind – Bolsover & District CC
D 1 – Peter Turner – Derby Mercury RC
E&F 19 – David Cuming – Graham Weigh RT/Deeside Olympic

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