Locals and visitors alike enjoyed the sunshine at the Solway Coast Cycling Festival on Saturday.
Carlisle Cycling Association ran coaching for tiny tots and a very popular skills circuit on the old putting green but most of the competitive action was at the other end of The Green on the specially prepared grass track.
Here, races for experienced track riders, run under British Cycling rules and regulations, were interspersed with informal Go Ride races for children.
In the main races there was fierce competition between current national grasstrack champion Charles Fletcher and his fellow Scot Craig Hamilton, sharing the first places in the senior races between them.
Local rider Neil Withington who is a past national champion was on good form too, taking several second and third places.
The men didn’t have it all their own way though. Liv Bent, of Carlisle, impressed as she made it onto the podium in two of the mixed races as well as taking the overall women’s title.
The Youth podium was an all Beacon Wheelers affair, with Jude Davison taking the overall title, Peter Hopley just one point behind in second and Luke Davison snapping at the older boys’ heels in third.
The Go Ride races were dominated by the Scots too, with brothers Mitchell and Josh Stewart of Castle Douglas taking the wins in the 5 and under and 6-10 age groups respectively.
There were good performances from many local riders too, with youngsters as young as three years old having a try at a range of races including sprints, handicap races and the ever popular slow race.
British Cycling Commissaire Andy Cosgrove travelled over from the North East for the day to ensure fair play during the racing, and Master of Ceremonies Bob McLean kept the spectators entertained and informed throughout the day including leading a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” to one of the young riders celebrating her third birthday.
CCA Secretary Fiona Graham said “This is the first time we’ve run grass-track racing at Silloth and we’re very pleased with the way things went.
“The senior racing was of a high quality and very exciting but we’re especially pleased about how many children entered the Go Ride races. We hope they all had fun and will go on to enjoy cycling more in the future.”
The Solway Coast Cycling Festival was organised by Allerdale council.
