OUR three East Lancashire based professional racing cyclists finished well up in the British Circuit Championships at Beverley.

Ian Wilkinson, in his Endura squad colours, took silver in a sprint finish after just losing out to winner Graham Briggs, of Rapha Condor Sharp.

Steven Burke, riding for Team UK Youth, took 14th with Simon Wilson, of CyclePremier-Metaltek, 20th after over an hour of fierce competition in the centre of the East Riding town on Friday evening in front of a large crowd of spectators.

The midweek time trials in our area have been very popular this year, with the North Lancashire Road Club 10-mile events at Edisford near Clitheroe doubling their entry in the last couple of years and generating some very close competition.

Last week Darwen’s Ian Cox put a bigger margin between himself and the rest with a storming 23 minute 13 second ride, which was the fastest on that course this year.

Richard Sagar of Burnley was second in 23-48 with Paul Taylor third in 23-54 and last week’s winner Simon Capstick having to settle for fourth, just one second slower.

The Rossendale 10 mile at Hapton has also been well supported with their own Paul Warrener taking top slot with 25m 25s ahead of Roy Flanagan, just one second slower, and a close result between third and fourth with Jason Craven 26-19 and Julian Monk 26-20.

Next week the NLRC and the Rossendale RC hold their annual inter-club competition for the Malcolm Eccles Memorial Trophy.

The top five times of each club in the Rossendale ‘10’ on Tuesday, August 9 will be added to the top five in the NLRC ‘10’ at Edisford a day later and the winning club will hold the trophy for one year.

A good turn-out from each of the clubs is expected.

The Pendle Forest events at Thornton-in-Craven have not done as well this year but nevertheless have enjoyed some good competition.

Last week’s winner Ian Duckworth put a clear margin between himself and the rest with a 24-52 performance against the 25-46 of Martin Welsh, 26-17 of Stephen Singleton and a surprise ride of Nick Dinsdale of Clitheroe with 27-16.