Location: North Newbald, East Yorkshire
Event: 22 April 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports

Sheffrec CC’s James Allen showed great strength on the hills to take first place in the Hull Thursday Road Race, staged at North Newbald, East Yorkshire, on Sunday.

After a cagey start, two riders broke away early in the second lap and rode their own race for a large chunk of the race.

Allen attacked on the hill on a few occasions as he tried to thin out the pack and work out who was strong on the climb.

The two riders that went off on their own were eventually caught on the fourth lap following team work from the chasers.

Another Sheffrec rider, Jon Wolff, showed great strength to pull away at the front of the race as he opened up an eight second gap.

Then, as the riders approached the hill for the final time, Allen made his move. Wolff still led for the first part of the incline but then as it flattened out, Allen overtook his team mate and powered up the second part of the hill to victory with the chasers 10 seconds behind.

James Allen, 34, said: “It was a really good race, with great organisation. The course was set along some quite narrow roads and a lot of stones. There was also a wind which meant a lot of riders saved their legs for the final climb.

“I kept having little digs on the hill, just so I could see who was strong and to try and thin out the pack a bit. Jon Wolff was really strong and there were about eight or nine riders competing for the win at the end.

“I knew that if I was going to win I’d have to give it maximum effort. I put about 90% in for the first part of the final hill and then for the second part I just gave it everything and I managed to stay in front.

“It was quite a tactical race too - the two lads that broke away early on worked together really well.”

Results:

1 James Allen (Sheffrec)
2 Nick Coupland (We Love Mountains RT)
3 Paul Rymer (Wilsons Wheels RT)
4 Jonathan Wolff (Sheffrec)
5 Daniel Keena (Squandra RT)
6 Jacob Trotter (Hull Thursday RC)
7 Karl Downes (Active/CPCycles RT)
8 Peter Fielding-Smith (Richardsons RT/Cube)
9 Andrew Robinson (Dinnington RC)
10 Stephen Coates (We Love Mountains RT)

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.