Elsie races in for third place

WITH a number of injuries and illnesses, Rossendale Road Club fielded a depleted squad at the fourth round of this winter’s North west cyclo-cross series, at

Stadt Moers near Whiston.

The event was organised by Liverpool Century CC and the sun shone for the early races, but as rain began to fall, conditions became more challenging over the greasy tree roots and short, steep climbs.

In the youth’s race, Helmshore’s Elsie Haygarth scored a fine

3rd place in the girl’s U14 class, well clear of Hope Factory Racing’s Millie Jebb.

Next up was the combined Men’s V50, Womens and Men’s V60 event, each class starting at one minute intervals. In the V50 class Dave Haygarth was down in 6th after the 1st lap, but worked his way up to take 3rd spot, best result of the season. Mick Taylor is only just back into racing and will surely improve on his 46th Place. Daughter Kate also looked somewhat out of sorts in 12th, although this still qualified her for 2nd Woman U23.

There was a strong field for the hotly contested V60 class with Derek Schofield taking a hard-earned 5th place after a slow start. Graham Wright had a race long battle with ex-club colleague Phil Warner, with Warner just taking that cherished 1st V70 spot after Wright had a fall in the increasingly slippy conditions. Ramsbottom’s Lewis Craven showed his class by taking 4th in the Elite Senior Men’s race.

And to emphasise the family nature of cyclocross, Philip Simcock took a fine 5th in the V40 event, wife Jacqui 18th in the Women’s, and daughter Ciara 6th in the Junior Women, all representing Ramsbottom’s JMC club.