Ilkley Cycling Club’s charity cyclocross event proved to be a big attraction on Sunday.

Event organiser Kevin Barrett, who had spent several months liaising closely with Bradford Council, devised an excellent course based around Ilkley Lido.

Headquarters for a day in which all the proceeds went to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, was established at the Olicanian Cricket club.

Children’s races were run for under-eights, under-10s and under-12s. There was also a youth category for riders aged 12 to 16. A total of 120 entrants tackled these races.

The ideal location, combined with some fine Autumnal weather, made it a fun event for the children.

Local cycling professional Scott Thwaites (Team NetApp-Endura) presented the prizes and was seen talking to many of the children afterwards.

The senior, ladies, veterans (40+) and junior (16-18) race were held in the afternoon. Over 110 riders lined up for the start of the 45 minutes plus one lap race.

The course used for this extended up into the woods behind the Lido with many technical sections and a steep running section.

With the recent rain, several sections were extremely muddy and caught a few of the riders out early in the race.

Two riders opened a gap on the field early on. In-form Wakefield junior Tom Seamen (Nut Cracker Racing), who had recently won the prestigious Junior Rapha Super Cross at Broughton Hall, pushed a fast pace which only Edwyn Oliver-Evans (CX Mag) could follow.

These two riders stayed together all race despite efforts from both to escape each other.

In the final lap Seamen managed to get a small leadp on the steep climb which he then extended on the fast slippy decent through the woods.

He was chased hard to the finish by Oliver-Evans but Seaman had time to raise both arms as he crossed the finishing line to take his third win of this cyclo cross season.

Ilkley’s Alison Kinloch rode a fantastic race to win the ladies category, a great achievement after she had spent several Summer months on the sidelines with an injury.

Ian Cliffe took a fine eighth place in the veterans’ category and was first Ilkley rider home. The final event of the day was a novice race and this attracted a good-size field and produced another fine race with Andy Stoneman (Valley Striders) taking the win.

Local riders results :- Under-8 race: 3 Freddie Dixon, 5 Ben Adams, 7 Gilbert Muirhead, 12 Gretel Wood, 14 Tomos Davies, 15 James Stirling (Ilkley CC), 16 Max Stead (Ilkley CC), 17 Lucy Pitches (Ilkley CC), 20 Florence Greenhalgh, 21 Ewen Wilkinson, 22 Josh Saville, 23 Franchesca Maczina (Ilkley CC), 25 Summer Smith.

Under-10 race: 6 Seb Cliffe (Ilkley CC), 11 Milo Hull, 12 Harry Stead (Ilkley CC), 13 Isobel Macina (Ilkley CC), 17 James Garnet (Ilkley CC, 19 Holly Pitches (Ilkley CC), 22 Freya Whiteside (Ilkley CC), 24 Annabelle Woolveridge, 25 Adeline Bradley, 26 Imogen Burdon, 27 Jess Francis, 28 Edward Hobbs, 29 Erin Horsfield (Ilkley CC).

Under-12 race: 3 Luke Middlemiss (JD Cycles), 11 Edward Riley (Ilkley CC), 12 Ethan Whiteside (Ilkley CC), 14 Matthew Briggs (Ilkley CC), 16 Charlie Dixon, 19 Rory Simkins, 21 Millie Woolveridge, 23 Joseph Carmen, 24 Cara Burdon (Ilkley CC), 25 Kaitlin Harris (Ilkley CC), 27 Jovan Ganeri, 28 Angel Smith, 29 Lucy Francis.

Youth (12-16) race: 14 Harry Hunt (Ilkley CC), 16 Jonny Gill (Ilkley CC), 18 Ben Kettleborough (Ilkley CC).

Senior /Ladies / Veterans / Junior: 11 Stefan Macina (JD Cycles), 16 Ian Cliffe (Ilkley CC), 30 Michael Burdon (Ilkley CC), 34 Stuart Pitches (Ilkley CC), 39 Lee Morley (Ilkley CC), 42 Arthur Wilson (Ilkley CC), 49 Matt Cox (Ilkley CC), 78 Greg Francis (Ilkley CC), 79 Mark Stirling (Ilkley CC), 81 Ben Still (Ilkley CC), 82 Allison Kinloch (Ilkley CC), 83 Tim Ashelford (Ilkley CC), 87 Adam Evans (Ilkley CC), 90 Rob Dodsworth (JD Cycles), 99 Andrew Hatfield (Ilkley CC), 105 Jamie Kirk (Ilkley CC), Novice: 4 Gareth Boss, 5 Stuart Hull, 6 Chris Oxlade, 8 Sean Houlihan (Ilkley CC), 10 Richard Hudson, 12 Deryck Jaks, 13 Jeff Walton, 14 Anna Hull, 15 Chris Mitchell, 16 Ben Hughes, 17 Rebecca Bibby, 18 Catherine Whiteside (Ilkley CC), 21 John Beers (Ilkley CC).