Carlisle Cycling Association ended their race season on a high note on Thursday night with excellent attendance and beautiful weather.
The last evening of the season is always a little bit different to normal and this year all riders had two races.
The youth riders all participated in a short time trial before their main races, which was a new experience for some of the youngest riders, but they all rose to the challenge.
Victory in the Under-8s races went to Oliver Nichol and Skye Stewart, and in the under-10s race the Clydesdale Colts duo of David McIntyre and Isla Faichen topped the podium.
The Scots also dominated the older age groups with wins for Zoe Martin, Cobey Stewart, Zara Main and Josh Stewart, but their run of victories was interrupted by Austrian visitor Jonathan Matti who took time out of his trip to the Lake District to win the Under-12s boys race.
The adults also competed in two races. The first race incorporated a sprint every five laps and demonstrated just how hard a bunch of cyclists are prepared to try to win a bag of sweets, with some aggressive and close racing!
The Barbour brothers, Sam and Zach looked set for a clean sweep of the intermediate sprints until John Bardsley managed to snatch the final one.
The overall race winner was Alex Foster of Wolf Cycles who edged out Zach Barbour and Jude Davison in the dash for the line.
The second adult race was a 25-lap bunch race, and it was clear that the heat and efforts made in the first race had taken their toll with some of the riders looking tired.
It was an attritional race with multiple riders making attacks but none were able to stay away for long, until Sam Barbour made the decisive move with several laps to go, building up a 16-second lead.
Jude Davison attacked from the bunch. however, and it looked like he might catch the tiring Barbour, but the young Scot managed to dig deep and hold off the fast finishing Davison. The podium was completed by John Bardsley.
Podium presentations included the association’s end of season awards with prizes given to the highest scoring rider in each category across the series. Special awards were also made for progress made over the year.
The youth prize went to Charlie Pipes who only started racing this year and has impressed across the summer, and the adult prize to Jude Davison in recognition of his fight back from injury.
Rider of the Year awards were presented to Aran Wingfield of Carlisle Tri Club in the youth category and Dave Horrobin of Rock to Roll CC in the adults.
Both riders were praised for their sportsmanship and commitment to the values of the association across the full year of training and racing.
A final award was made to Volunteer of the Year, Pete Winkley, for his valuable work with the timing system throughout the season.
