Road racing returns after Covid-19 year
Mendips event sells out as riders keen for competition, reports James Shrubsall
After a long wait bunch racing on the open road returned to England last Sunday (18 April), with a post-lockdown Regional Test Event held in the Mendip Hills near Bristol. Forty-five second, third and fourth-category riders took part in the 51km Regional A event, held over four laps of a circuit based on the village of Priddy.
While time trials and closed circuit events have already restarted, racing on the open road will only be allowed as a test event at least until 20 June, as organisers and British Cycling once again attempt to gauge how feasible – and safe – holding events on the open road is.
The Mendips test event was the first BC road race since 15 March 2020. It was won by Primera-teamjobs rider Conor Mcgoldrick, and was open to 45 riders, with entry priority going to riders living within a 20-mile radius of the event. Despite no prize money or ranking points being on offer, the race was a sell-out.
Organiser Felix Young, who is a BC regional events officer, hailed the event as a success and praised the attitude of the riders: “The riders were absolutely brilliant, and really understood their responsibility when it came to adhering to the rules and respecting each other out on the road. The riders have had to be incredibly patient over the past year but they were all just buzzing to be
“Everyone was super-eager to be on the start line”
back racing and even the guys out of the back crossed the line with big smiles on their faces.
“Though the field size and duration were limited the event felt like a really important first step towards getting back to ‘normal’ road racing,” he added, “and the demand for places should give us all cause for optimism about the health of the sport.”
Winner Mcgoldrick said the Covid-19 measures ran “super-smoothly – it was all very ‘2020’... there was a big Zoom call two nights before, where the whole race was on for the briefing, just to minimise contact on the day.
“Then when you arrived you had to get your temperature checked, and you weren’t allowed to mix too much in the car park – everyone was in their own two-metre kind of area.”
One hundred people applied for the 45 places on offer, Mcgoldrick revealed – a measure of how eager riders were to get back out on the road.
“Everyone was super-eager to be on that start line,” he said. “There were the protocols at the start, but as soon as the racing started, it was back to normal, it was great.”
More road racing is taking place in May, with the next events being the Wyre Forest Challenge men’s and women’s events on 9 May.