LANCASHIRE Road Club racing members battled the elements this weekend, to represent the road club in true Lancashire fashion. Greg Cain and Lee McCarty took on 34 other riders in the Glossop Road Club Hill Climb on the edge of the Peak District on Sunday morning.

The ride took them up 3.2 miles of hill to the summit of Snake Pass. With wheels spinning on the greasy road surface and a headwind for much of the way up, everyone in the hill climb was struggling.

Greg, hoping to better his time from last year of 15-05, managed a valiant 20-04, whilst Lee crossed the line in 18-23 to take sixth place overall. Both riders put in sterling performances, especially considering the quality of competition, which included some sponsored riders and the national hill climb champion Jim Henderson, who eventually won the event in 15-43. Lee was particularly pleased, as this was only his third hill climb event.

Also on Sunday, the club veteran riders were out in force in the North Lancs Veterans 25-mile time trial on the Brock course at Garstang. This time it was Frank Mackin's turn to make his mark, as he took the first prize on handicap, with a time of 1-07-28.

Frank also celebrated the fact that he had obtained the four vets standards that he wanted, at 10, 25, 30 and 50 miles. Colin Greenhalgh was the other LRC rider in the prizes, when his time of 1-03-22 secured him the third place on standard.

On a day when only two competitors could manage to finish in under the hour, Colin explained that this was "definitely a rough morning". The times for other LRC riders were: Stan Simister 1-09-33 Bill Parkinson 1-18-45 Colin Greenhalgh 1-03-22 John Partington 1-19-30 Ian Ainsworth 1-09-26. The winning time was 58-33. In a more unusual vein, Mike Bland (LRC) and Derek Pritchard (Bury Tandem Club) flew the flag in the Trike Association North West event on Sunday. They covered the 25-mile distance in 1-05-15.

A day earlier, two members travelled to the southern Lake District to take part in the Kent Valley 10-mile TT on Levens. Known as a fast course, it is often the scene of personal best times for riders, but on this occasion the weather put paid to any such ideas.

Conditions were blustery and despite the promise of a full field, some of the top riders didn't turn up. The leading riders were about a minute down on their times of two weeks ago, and other riders were slower still. Hard rider Jon Purdy managed to get within 20 seconds of his most recent time, when he finished in 21-14 and Frank Mackin with 24-25 continued his steady progress, finishing over two minutes faster than his last effort. The winning time was 20-55.

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