Location: Wool, Dorset
Event: 17 June 2012
Report: Graham Robins

Sam Larkham (Bristol South CC) broke clear of fellow escapee Carl Silver (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) within sight of the finish line to solo across the line for the win in the Lloyd Coward Memorial Road Race promoted by CC Weymouth.

The four and a half lap 75km race was based at Wool in West Dorset on the edge of the Jurassic coastline was on a warm sunny morning with a slight wind, but nothing to bother the riders.

The race all stayed together for three and a half laps until the bell when the two riders jumped away and soon started to open up a gap as the course rolled downhill towards Monkey World on the edge of Wool.

The two riders Sam and Carl worked hard to build the gap all the way up to the tight left turn with three kilometres to go.

With the two leaders well clear the remainder of the bunch were slightly hampered by a car at the turn and they had to funnel past which was all the leaders need to stay away. Riders in the bunch said they might have caught the leaders had it not been for the car.

As Carl faded away Sam pulled away to collect a well deserved win. After the race Carl said: “He [Sam] was much the stronger rider and he pulled me along once we got free and deserved the win.”

Result:

1 Sam Larkham (Bristol South CC)
2 Hugh Knudsen (University of Bristol CC)
3 Craig Wallduck (University of Bristol CC)
4 Kieron Smith (VC Montpellier)
5 Adam Lister
6 Ben Hooppell (Exeter Wheelers CC)

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.