Carlisle Cycling Association has held its first racing specifically for riders aged over 40.
Sadly the field was depleted by illness, with a number of riders withdrawing from the race at the 11th hour due to ill health.
Nevertheless CCA were determined to continue and 10 riders took to the start line, in less than ideal conditions.
The sun was shining, but it was yet another very windy night at Harraby, so the group largely stuck together for shelter for the majority of the race.
Association chairman Neil Withington is on good form this season and he made a strong attack on the last lap, to come home as the overall race winner and first in the over-40s category.
Unfortunately a crash on the final corner took down a couple of riders, but Kenny McLellan finished as the first over-50 and local rider Bryan Pool, of Border City Wheelers, was first over-60 home.
The veterans’ race was followed by an hour’s racing for Category 3 and 4 adults of any age.
The wind had eased slightly by the start of the race but was still gusting strongly at times. The sizeable field fairly quickly split into three main groups, with a number of the younger men in the race forcing the pace in the lead group as the race developed.
The Beacon Wheelers trio of Joss Livesey, Michael Walters and Matt Atkinson battled it out with up and coming under-23 rider Max Lutz-Atkinson of the Ribble rechrg Race Team and for a while it looked as though the podium places would be decided between them.
But the young Scot, Oliver Newton launched his sprint in the final straight to beat Lutz- Atkinson into second and Livesey into third – another 10 points for the rider from Ayr who is having an impressive season so far.
There is no racing at Carlisle this week due to the bank holiday, but the Summer Series resumes on Thursday June 9 with racing for both youth and adult riders.
