RR Result: Proper Northern Road Race Series 3

On a very wet day in Lancashire, Sammie Stuart and Edward Morgan were the winners of the Proper Northern Road Races at Aughton

RR Result: Proper Northern Road Race Series 3

Thanks to Cold Dark North for the report & Ellen Isherwood @lancsracingscene) for photos

A yellow weather warning for rain greeted the riders at the HQ in North Lancashire on Sunday for the final round of this year’s Proper Northern Road Race Series at Aughton. It wasn’t the wettest ever Cold Dark North Race in the summer, but it was certainly close. In the torrential rain, all day, first the men and then the women did battle for the healthy prize pot for both this round and the overall series. (Only those that competed in the final round were eligible for Series prizes.)

The Aughton circuit is arguably the least savage of the ones used by Cold Dark North in the Series and the rolling parcours suits organised breakaways and has a more mild uphill finish than its predecessors at Capernwray and Oakenclough. After two laps of the scheduled 10.5 laps, the men were all still together – with several riders trying to escape off the front – including National Circuit Series leader Ben Chilton (Ribble Collective) and Tom Martin.

On lap 3, there were more attacks from the peloton, Chris Booth making moves amongst others. It was on Lap 4, that the race winning break occurred with Chilton, Ed Morgan and Jenson Young attacking on the fast descent through Aughton Village and escaping never to be seen again by the peloton.

By the time there were four laps to go, the three leaders had built up over two minutes’ lead on the chasing pack in the incessant rain and despite the best efforts of a well organised chase, they came to the final straight with well over a minute advantage. Around the final bend together, it was Morgan that jumped first and had enough to hold on for a win by five bike lengths from Chilton with Young in third. Ben Pease rolled in 4th ahead of Tobias Bartlett in a small break ahead of the peloton.

The KOM on the day was taken by Morgan, with Moonglu the leading team and Maxwell Hereward finishing as leading junior. The Combativity Award was well won by Kev Dennison who battled solo, behind the bunch for over 10 laps but never gave up in the deluge!

The Men’s Proper Northern Road Races Series was won by Ed Morgan with Tom Martin clinging on for the overall KOM and his team Wheelbase Castelli taking the honours for the Series too.

WOMEN’S RACE
After a very swift turn around, it was the women’s turn and a slightly diminished field set off into a fractionally milder “mizzle”. That quickly changed though and the rain started beating down again mid way through the first lap.

It took until Lap 3 of 7 for the peloton to split and the attacks to start to stick. During lap 4, Jay Hine put in a huge effort to build up nearly a minute lead on the pack. The gap was attacked by Lucy Harris and Maddie Heywood and by the start of the penultimate lap they were all back together and by the bell, a group of seven had pulled clear with 25 seconds on the remaining field. That group included last year’s winner Sammie Stuart, Kate Richardson, Harris, Annamarie Lipp (Saint Piran WRT), Tamsin Miller (Hutchinson-Brother UK), Sophie Enever and Amelia Tyler and it seemed certain that they would contest the final spoils.

In the end it was Stuart, Richardson, Tyler and Miller who sprinted for the podium and finished in that order with no time gaps between them. An excellent finish to a lively race. It was Freya Whiteside that was the leading junior and Sammie Stuart collected the QOM prize. The Combativity award went to Harris for her efforts in pulling back the solo breakaway leader. Enever and Tyler’s efforts together with Daisy Barnes saw Alba scoop the team prize ahead of Boompods.

In the final series standings it was Sammie who swept the QOM and Individual prizes with Freya Whiteside on the top step for Juniors and Team Boompods retained their overall prize from last year.

Cold Dark North would like to thank all those riders, officials, volunteers and supporters that have taken part in this year’s series but most of all to our sponsors Ribble Cycles, together with Wheelbase, Fell Brewery, Become Wild Edale and Atkinson’s Coffee. Without them, this simply wouldn’t happen.

RESULTS AFTER THE ADVERT …

Women
1 Sammie Stuart DAS – Handsling Bikes
2 Kate Richardson Lifeplus Wahoo
3 Amelia Tyler Alba Development Road Team
4 Tamsin Miller Hutchinson-Brother UK
5 Annamarie lipp Saint Piran WRT
6 Lucy Harris AWOL- O’Shea
7 Sophie Enever Alba Development Road Team
8 Lauren Robinson Team Boompods
9 Jayati Hine Team Boompods
10 Maddie Heywood FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing
11 Lucy Neatham LDN-Academy
12 Jemma Speers North Down CC
13 Gemma Mitchell Team Boompods
14 Natalie Stevenson Glasgow Ivy CC
15 Lauren Langham Wahoo
16 Daisy Barnes Alba Development Road Team
17 Harriet Wilson Jadan Vive le Velo Glasdon
18 Victoria Smith Alba Development Road Team
19 Freya Whiteside Shibden Hope Tech Apex
20 Jamie Leigh Lloyd Liverpool Braveheart Bicycle Club
21 Maisy Vasic Brother UK-Orientation Marketing

Men
1 Edward Morgan Wales Racing Academy
2 Ben Chilton Ribble Collective
3 Jenson Young ROKiT-SRCT
4 Ben Pease Moonglu Race Team
5 Tobias Bartlett Doddington Cycling Club
6 Logan Maclean Private Member
7 Matthew Lord Richardsons Trek DAS
8 Jacob Smith Wheelbase CabTech Castelli
9 Thomas Mitchell Ellesse Race Team
10 Josh Housley Derby CC Webuycycle Huub RT
11 James Wordsworth Cycling Sheffield
12 Ben Mewes Moonglu Race Team
13 George Peden Team PB Performance
14 Matthew Warhurst ROKiT-SRCT
15 Tom Martin Wheelbase CabTech Castelli
16 Marinus Petersen Kalas Motip Race Team
17 Christopher Booth Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk
18 Daniel McDermott Moonglu Race Team
19 Carl Potter Tactic Sport UK Race Team
20 Maxwell Hereward 360cycling
21 George Radcliffe Bialini Gomola CCN
22 Alexander Foster Innovation Racing
23 Ben Etherington BCC Race Team
24 Joe Howcroft Otley CC
25 Adam Bent Eiser Hirumet
26 Joe Boothroyd Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk
27 Carl Stubbs Moonglu Race Team
28 Jude Davison Cog Set Papyrus Racing Club
29 Kevin Moore Paceline Cycles North
30 Jack Moore Gala Cycling Club
31 Richard Butler Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk
32 Kevin Dennison Private Member