THE Tour of Britain came to Pendle earlier than expected when school children from across the borough took part in their own version of the major national event.

Stage Two of the main event speeds through the roads of East Lancashire in September but Pendle pupils got the chance to show off their own skills on two wheels at the Steven Burke Cycle Hub at Swinden Playing Fields in Nelson.

The Tour of Britain Challenge Cycling Competition was organised by the Pendle School Sport Partnership and included youngsters from schools across the borough.

Each school had 12 riders who were split in to two teams to negotiate a series of cycling challenges.

The teams competed in three events; a team skill race, a team pursuit and an individual time raced.

To get in the mood, each of the teams were given a T-shirt with their Tour of Britain team name on the front and the name of a Tour of Britain rider on the back.

So while the names of schools such as Holy Saviour, Coates Lane, Laneshawbridge, St Thomas and Wheatley Lane were more recognisable team name such as Madison Genesis, IAM Cycling, Garmin Sharp and Tinkoff Saxo weren’t to those not familiar with the Tour of Britain, In the three events, times from riders in each team were added together to give an overall time for each discipline and also reveal the overall winner.

And it was Laneshawbridge who were crowned Britain Challenge Cycling Competition winners with a combined time of 36 minutes 29 seconds.

St Thomas were second with 38 mins 46secs while Coates Lane were third in 40mins.

The top five were completed by Holy Saviour in fourth with a time of in 44mins 39secs while Wheatley Lane were fifth in 49mins 13secs.

Neil Stewart, School Games Organiser, was delighted with the event and said that everyone who took part really enjoyed the occasion.

“Cycling has really taken off in the borough and it is great to see,” said Stewart. “It is a wonderful sport to be involved in as it is something every child can take part in.

“Since the introduction of the Steven Burke Cycle Hub and the work done by the Cycle Sport Pendle, cycling is just getting more and more popular.

“We now host East Lancashire cycling events with other schools and pupils from the across the region coming here to take part in cycling events.”

Each school received a pennant to commemorate the event and each rider got a certificate for taking part as well as being able to keep their team shirt. Riders from the winning school also got a winners certificate.

“Many thanks to Sainsburys (Colne) for donating 60 T-shirts, Textstyles in Colne for printing them.

“And Pendle Borough Council for sponsoring the costs of printing and the pennants,” added Stewart.

“Also thanks to Dylan Clayton of British Cycling and the coaches from ‘Go Velo’ for supporting the event.”