THE Lancashire Road Club 12 hour time trial which is one of the few remaining races of its type in the time trial calendar.

Most time trials are length based with the riders competing over a set distance, the winner being the competitor completing the 10, 25 etc miles in the shortest time. The '12 hour' is the opposite with the winner being the rider who covers the largest distance in the time. The LRC event also incorporates the club's own 12 hour championship event which most racing members find too intimidating to even attempt.

The club champion for the 2000 season is Ian Ainsworth who covered a commendable 217.845 miles. This ride equates to over 18 mph which most cyclists would struggle to maintain over even a couple of hours.

Obviously over these types of distance the rider must have a support team to ensure that they are kept well fed and watered and Ian was ably backed up by his wife Jean in this event.

In an almost exact opposite of the 12 hour, two of the clubs most regular racers, Lee McCarty and Dene Fisher took part in probably one of the shortest time trials on Friday evening.

After travelling for nearly 2 hours to get to Knaresborough in North Yorkshire the LRC pair competed in a hill climb event covering approximately 800 yards !. Lee's time of 1 minute 29.3 seconds was within 9 seconds of the winner whilst Dene's 1:39.4 was admirable for a rider who 'can't climb to save my life'. In two more regular events, Peter Graham rode a 10 mile race on Saturday in 24 minutes 11 seconds whilst Mike Bland and Tony Lowe rode a Brock 10 in 24:40 and 24:17 respectively. Club runs LRC club runs will continue as usual throughout the racing season with clubrunners meeting outside the Royal Oak pub on Tonge Moor Road at 08:30 on Sunday mornings.

Anyone wishing to join the run should turn up on the day with a roadbike (and spare inner tube - just in case !) you will be made very welcome.

If you would like to contact the Lancashire Road Club for further details about Time-Trials, Road Racing, clubruns and other activities (including track riding), you are welcome to e-mail us on dene@lancsrc.freeserve.co.uk or to contact us by telephone on 01204 653280.