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Location: Durham University Cricket Club, Durham, County Durham
Event: 17 November 2013
Report: Snowdon Sports/Andy Whitehouse
Photos: Andy Whitehouse

Paul Oldham made it three wins in a row as he once again dominated in the National Trophy.

The only time that the result looked in any doubt was when the Hope Factory Racing rider suffered a rear wheel puncture and had to complete half a lap before getting to the pits.

But he had built up such a commanding lead and rode so well with the puncture that it didn’t knock him off his stride and he still managed to take victory by 19 seconds.

Straight from the start, Steve James (Hargroves Cycles) bolted to an early lead but Oldham wasn’t far behind, sitting on his back wheel.

James’ lead lasted but half a lap with Oldham moving up on the cathedral steps. The tussle in the early stages of the race saw Adam Martin (Metaltek-Knights of Old), Oldham, Crawforth and Sumner battle it out at the front.

There was then a 50 metre gap back to Oli Beckingsale (Endura MTB Racing) and Orange Monkey’s Dave Fletcher.

It was local rider Adam Martin who was setting the pace in lap two, although the under 23 title contender would suffer later in the race for his efforts.

Oldham and Martin managed to open a gap and on the third lap, they were away from the rest of the field with Beckingsale working hard to catch them. Sumner was just behind him.

On the sections with jumps, Oldham had the advantage over Martin but the younger rider was making up the lost time over the flat.

But a mistake from Martin saw him drop back as he missed a pedal on the climb and Oldham took advantage, racing away into the distance. It wasn’t just Oldham that Martin had to worry about either – Beckingsale was in hot pursuit of him.

Beckingsale and Martin traded second spot for a while but Oldham was taking off on his own at the front. Halfway through the race, the three riders crossed a football pitch and Oldham led by the full length of the playing surface.

Then, with two laps to go, Oldham’s back wheel went, just after the second flag of the pits meaning he had to complete half a lap before replacing it.

But such was his dominance, he never looked in danger of surrendering the lead and he went on to win by 19 seconds. Beckingsale had now pulled away from Martin and went on to take second spot but third was good enough for Martin to take the under 23 yellow jersey.

Women

Hannah Payton took the yellow jersey from Annie Simpson after winning her first race of the series. Payton had finished second in both previous rounds with Simpson third and first in those races.

But on the day, Kinesis Morvelo Project rider Payton had the march on her rival, crossing the line 41 seconds before Simpson.

Right from the gun, the top two showed they meant business by setting off at a furious pace and after a third of the first lap, they had already opened a small gap over Abby May Parkinson (RST) and Merce Pacios Pujado (Blue Motors) who were battling it out for third spot.

Sarah Murray (www.cxmagaine.com) and Delia Beddis (Vicious Velo) were behind them competing for fifth place.

This was how the rest of the race would play out with Payton dominating at the front and Simpson staying with her.

With two laps to go, Abby Mae Parkinson began to drop back, the 16-year-old not quite used to the longer distances covered in senior races.

As the race approached the end, Payton got stronger and Simpson could no longer keep pace and had dropped 41 seconds behind the winner by the line.

Pujado finished in third place and Parkinson finished fourth but was top junior. The junior riders were strong with Amira Mellor coming fifth and Jessica Wilkinson in eighth.

What they said

“That’s three wins from three races – I’m well chuffed with that,” said Paul Oldham. “I’ve never won three races in a series before. I’ve won two a couple of times so I think that makes this my best season so far.

“I think I'm coming back into form, I had a decent year in 2012 but never really got going to be honest, but it has started well so it’s a matter of keeping it going.

“Adam [Martin] was strong today. I think we were getting a bit of a gap on Oli on the bank but there was nowhere to rest on the course so it had to be a wearing down process and try to drop Adam.

“There wasn't any major changes in elevation on the course but it just wears you down on every lap. the surface was pretty good, slippy but fast, it was just having the confidence to attack the corners and moving forward.

“As the temperature dropped it did get a bit slick towards the finish and when the rain started I was so glad I put the muds in! I punctured with two laps to go just as I had gone past the pit exit, I heard a noise looked down and knew the back tyre was going down - but luckily it was the short half of the lap so it was a matter of keeping my head, staying upright and getting back to the pits for a bike change.

“The points difference going into Milton Keynes in a couple of weeks takes a bit of pressure off, of course I'm going there to win but a second or third won't be too bad.”

“I'm happy to finally get the series leaders jersey,” said women’s winner and new series leader Hannah Payton. “I didn't quite manage it either at Abergavenny or Southampton coming second to Annie both times, so I knew I had to beat her today to get the lead and really to stop her getting a bigger gap to me on points. It gets harder every round to get the points back if you let them build up.

“As far as the race went today Annie took the lead early on so I knew I had to stick on her wheel. I felt I was actually cornering faster than she was, but to get away from her is really a big ask. She did attack and got away but I put a big effort in and with two laps to go I knew I had to make a move and managed to get away.

“I thought at that point her head may have dropped so I went on the attack and coming towards the end of the race I knew she wasn't going to catch me.”

Other categories

The junior race produced arguably the closest race of the current series so far with Dylan Kerfoot Robson snatching victory from Jack Ravenscroft by half a wheel. With current leader, Jake Poole not taking the start, the leader’s jersey was there for the taking but it was Kerfoot-Robson and Ravenscroft who were there for the race win.

Darren Atkins retained the leaders jersey in the veteran over 40 race but it was not to be the easiest of wins for the Team Jewson rider with Ian Taylor and Crispin Doyle chasing the series leader all the way.

Steve Davies again dominated the over 50s race, the series leader once again looked unbeatable from the gun, getting into his rhythm on the opening lap and only having to contend with the race's back markers. The race for second was again between Mick Davies and Phil Roach, both riders swapping positions during the race but Davies got the better of Roach in the closing lap and crossed the line for second place just eight seconds to the good of Roach.

Dan Tulett once again took the victory in the under 16s race, the youngster, coming back from a heavy cold seemed to be struggling at times during the race and had to work to keep his early lead. A small group made the break early on, David Barnes, Josh Waters and Alfie Moses hooked onto Tulett's wheel and worked well together to make the gap to the rest of the field.

Charlotte Broughton took the victory in the Under 16s girls’ race but was pushed to the line by Emily Wadsworth. Jessica Roberts took third, the three girls took control early on in the race with Broughton hitting the front on the first lap with both Wadsworth and Roberts in close contention.

Craig Rogers took victory in the Under 14 boys’ race from Blackpool YCA’s Alistair Leivers, Solomon Kerfoot-Robson took third. In the under 14s girls race it was Lucy Horrocks who took the win from series leader Poppy Wildman on the line but it wasn't enough to take the series lead. Ellie Russell completed the podium finishing third just one second behind.

Round Three Results (click to download):

Senior Men | Women | Veterans | Over-50s | Juniors | Under-16 Boys | Under-16 Girls | Under-14 Boys | Under-14 Girls

Overall after Round Three (click to download):

Senior Men | Women | Veterans | Under-23s | Over-50s | Juniors | Under-16 Boys | Under-16 Girls | Under-14 Boys | Under-14 Girls

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.