Location: Walkington, East Yorkshire
Event: 15 April 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports

Peter Cocker of Witham Wheelers took first prize in the first ever road race to be organised by We Love Mountains, the Hull based cycling shop.

The circuit boasts a long uphill drag, high speed descent and sharp climb within the finishing stretch. All this makes the eight lap, seven mile circuit a challenge, even more so in the cold, changeable conditions that the 57 riders found themselves in.

The first half of the race was relatively quiet with only a few breaks getting away including Ben Ives (We Love Mountains RT) and Peter Cocker who stayed away for two laps before being reeled in by the main bunch.

On the fourth lap, the action really started to hot up with numerous attacks, eventually splintering the race and a lead group of around 15 riders was formed.

At the end of the fifth lap, Cocker attacked again and was eventually joined by Zack Whitehead (Dirt Wheels Cycles) who were to form the winning move.

Roy Sumner (Port Sunlight Wheelers) made a valiant effort to bridge across but was soon to be picked up by a chasing group containing Nathan Wilson (Wilson’s Wheels RT), Ben Ives and Karl Downes (Active/CP Cycles).

Out of the lead two it was the junior, Peter Cocker, who was the strongest and crossed the line just ahead of Zack Whitehead.

40 seconds later, Nathan Wilson out-sprinted Ben Ives into third place with Karl Downes wrapping up the top five.

The main chase group of seven riders crossed the line 53 seconds later after falling into the usual trap of cat and mouse.

This resulted in the pace dropping to an almost standstill in the final half mile with the majority of the money places already taken.

The event was a huge success with thanks going out to the members, staff and friends of We Love Mountains Racing Team for giving up their time. A special mention also has to go to Lee Coulson of We Love Mountains RT, as without all his hard work and organisation this race would not have ran as smoothly.

There were 26 finishers from 57 starters. It was cold and windy with the occasional hailstone shower and the temperature was three degrees Centigrade.

Results:

2/3/4:
1 Peter Cocker (Witham Wheelers)
2 Zack Whitehead (Dirt Wheels Cycles)
3 Nathan Wilson (Wilson’s Wheels RT)
4 Ben Ives (We Love Mountains RT)
5 Carl Downes (Active/CP Cycles RT)
6 Roy Sumner (Port Sunlight Wheelers CC)
7 Joseph White (Lindsey Roads CC)
8 Blake Cowley (Clay Cross RT)
9 Paul Rymer (Wilson’s Wheels RT)
10 Alex Mitchell (We Love Mountains RT)

British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.