Quarry climbing proves a big hit
ON Wednesday last, the second round of the 2021 Mountain Bike Madness midweek series was held at Lee Quarry, hosted by Rossendale Road Club.
The event attracted more than 100 MTB competitors from around the North West and West Yorkshire and the recent dry weather produced some fast and exciting racing, only slowed by the amount of climbing involved on the course set by organiser Dave Haygarth.
A single race is arranged with category groups setting off at timed intervals – the Senior Male racers off first, and the ‘Enthusiasts’ off last.
In over an hour’s racing, the Elite men’s event was won by Paul Oldham, better known for his cyclocross prowess, of Hope Factory Racing, but he was pushed close by Ramsbottom’s Lewis Craven, just over a minute behind. Other local riders included Phil Simcock, also from Ramsbottom, in 13th, Stacksteads Gaz Pemberton 29th and Helmshore’s Carl Nelson in 33rd.
Elsie Haygarth of Helmshore finished 3rd in the Juvenile Women’s category, with Iona Simcock 5th. The next event at Lee Quarry is on Wednesday 7th July.
RRC members have also been busy on the road, and club secretary Tony Bowler took his best result of the year with a fine 3rd place in the Category 3 road race on the Steven Burke circuit at Barrowford last Thursday.
On the time trial scene, Chris Thomas posted another sub 25 mph for this year, with a time of 23:43 for the 10 mile charity event at Levens on Saturday, with John Leach finishing with 37:18.
At the same venue on Sunday, but this time extended to 25 miles, Patrick Hickey scored his first open win of the year for the Eddie Howson Memorial Trophy, with a very fast time of 51:59, an average of almost 29 mph and a new PB for himself.
Dave Haygarth showed he can also perform away from his normal off-road success in 23rd place, and dipped under the ‘hour’ with a time of 58:43