Following last year’s successful running of the first road race to be run in Furness for several years, The Lakes Road Club has teamed up with leading Barrow bike shop Topmark Cycles to make this event even bigger and better with the launch of the Topmark Cycles Summer Classic 2019.
Last years event was a great success, with a great race and hundreds of spectators around the course watching the event, and the Lakes Road Club wanted to bring the event back and make it even better this year, and so teamed up with Topmark Cycles.
Event Organiser and club member Richard Dixon said: “It was great to see so many riders and spectators turn out for last years event, and so we had to put it on again this year. It’s great that Topmark Cycles wanted to get involved, which will really help us improve the event further and really get it on the map.”
The race will take place on Sunday 14th July 2019 and Bill Nickson, founder of Topmark Cycles said: “We are really excited to be involved with this event – it is great to support local cycling events like this and help create racing opportunities for local talent.”
Mark Nickson added: “It will be great to see some of the top end race bikes that Topmark Cycles have supplied to local riders in action on our local roads! We’re really looking forward to the day.”
The event is being run under British Cycling regulations and the 60 riders taking part will take in 6 laps of the same 9 mile circuit as last year, based around a start and finish on Birkrigg, with the circuit going to Scales, down to the Coast Road at Aldingham, along to Ulverston, up Oakwood Drive and back up to Birkrigg.
Richard Dixon said: “Last year we tried to create a ‘Fan Zone’ at the Start / Finish area, where people could watch the race and this worked well – we’ll be giving away clapper sticks and cow bells again this year so that spectators can cheer the riders as they go through, and there will be prizes throughout the race for the first across the line on different laps, so hopefully plenty of action to see.”
In the past, riders such as Chris Boardman have ridden local races organised by the Lakes Road Club and gone on to be household names, so could the next Chris Froome or Geraint Thomas be in this race? The Lakes Road Club hope so, and want to do their part in nurturing young talent. Last years winner, Adam Hartley from Poulton-Le-Fylde, has now gone on to ride for the SEG Racing Academy in Belgium, and this year has taken part in major European races, including the Under 23’s Liege Bastogne Leige, one of the most prestigious races in international cycling.
The race is taking place on Sunday 14th July, with the start at 10:00am and will be finished by around 12.30.
Richard Dixon added: “We hope that people will come and watch the race. We’d also like to thank people for their patience while the event passes – you may be briefly held up but it will only be for a couple of minutes at most. We’re being supported by British Cycling and using Accredited Marshals to help with the event, who are able to control traffic as the race passes through. We’re also using the National Escort Group – a team of specially trained motorbike marshals, who also work on professional races, so the event will be really safe and have a real professional feel to it.”
