ILKLEY Cycling Club drew a big field to its fourth annual Cyclocross last Sunday, with a field of 324 competitors, 127 of which were children under 12 years old.

The event was strongly supported by local Yorkshire Clubs and teams but also attracted riders from as far away as Aberdeen and Shrewsbury.

National veterans champion Chris Young from Shipley, who works for British Cycling and puts a great amount back into the sport both in his professional life and as a volunteer, decided to ride down an age category in the Junior/Senior and Veteran (V) 40 – V44 Mens race, despite V50 being his actual category.

Young did not have it all his own way and had to race, but came across the line first, followed ten seconds later by Steve Henshall V40 of St Helen’s CC and local rider Stefan Macina in third place.

Other notable local successes in this race were Robert Watson who was the first senior male riding for Paceline, a team based in Crosshills, chased in by Ilkley's Ted Mason 48 seconds behind for second place, Ted is more noted locally for his fell running prowess.

The race for 16-18 year olds saw three local riders doing well with Ilkley’s Ryan Middlemiss 1st Junior riding for East Bradford CC, Matthew Lister of Skipton riding for Paul Milnes, and Harry Hunt 3rd riding for Otley CC.

The second adult race includes Veteran Men 45-49, VMen50+, Junior/Senior/V40+ Women with Novice Riders starting 1 minute behind. The junior women’s race only had 1 entrant, Jayati Hine, an unattached rider from South Yorkshire.

This is definitely a category the Club will look to encourage for future years. Sinead Burke from locally sponsored team Ph-Mas VCUK took the Senior Women’s crown. Sinead came 13th last weekend in the National Championships in Peel Park.

The first veteran women over the line was Burley-in-Wharfedale’s Alison Kinlock, second claim to ICC, riding for Ph-Mas VCUK.

Alison came eighth in Peel Park. She has fantastic technical skills which go hand in hand with her love of mountain biking.

Young, whose regular club is Pedalsports, gave a display of why he is a National Champion, taking first place over the line for the second time on the day and also the V50 prize.

He was chased to the line by ICC member Stefan Macina V45 riding for Aurelus Cycles based in Gargrave, Chris taking it by 10 seconds. This was a fantastic effort as this was also Stefan’s second race of the day.

Also of note for Ilkley’s club members were 3rd Senior Men Dave Wilby, 3rd V40 Men Ian Cliffe and 3rd V50 Men John Wood. The men’s V60 prize was taken by Brian Crossley of Wakefield Tri-Club. The Novice winners, both unattached to a cycling club, were Chris Norman and Miranda Dunston.

Feedback from crowds on the day and on social media was this was a great event on a classic cyclo-cross course.

Despite it turning very muddy all the riders seemed very satisfied even those whose “did not finish”. It is truly a lovely setting with the view of Ilkley Moor and thankfully, due to the fantastic resilience of grass the area will be back to its green tranquillity before long.

Any reader interested in cyclocross can visit the Yorkshire Cyclocross Association “Getting started” webpages or contact Ilkley Cycling Club via its website.