Clitheroe success for Yorkshire riders

CYCLING: Yorkshire riders were celebrating a 1-2-3 over their Lancashire rivals in the 54-mile Clayton Velo Spring Handicap Road Race at Clitheroe yesterday.

The event, which sees groups of riders set off at time intervals according to their ability, saw 79 starters tackle a rain-lashed course, including many Lancashire riders hopeful of scoring a win on home soil.

However, the race was won by two Yorkshiremen in a dead-heat sprint finish.

Sigma Sport Racing Team rider Tom Murray, the 25-year-old from Huddersfield, and Rapha Condor-Sharp pro Dean Downing from Rotherham, shared first prize after the commissaires could not separate them. And the final podium spot went to Keighley’s Tom Barras, the 32-year-old who this season is riding with Cycle Premier-Metaltek.

Meanwhile in time trialling, York-based youngster Phil Graves (Clifton CC) won the Yorkshire Cycling Federation’s 10-mile event, staged on the V910 course at Ferrybridge, with riders using the old A1 from Brotherton to Micklefield and back.

Triathlete Graves clocked 21:08 for the course, winning by more than a minute over Witham Wheelers’ James Coleman who clocked 22:16, while Planet X rider Lee Tunniclife was third, another four seconds off the pace.