One of the main objectives of the day was to raise as much money as possible for the Lewis Balyckyi trust fund – a fund set up in memory of a local rider that lost his life in a tragic road traffic incident near Preston in Lancashire in January 2011. The weather remained kind all day with long periods of sunshine but there was a strong and rather cold northerly wind blowing throughout all of the events.

The racing began at 10am with the 3 Lap Under 8 category race. This race was won by James Higham (H. Middleton CC), closely followed by Nathan Fortune (Kirklees Cycling Academy), with third place going to Samuel Kendall (Liverpool Century RC).
The first girl was Isobel Ware of St Helens CRC. Next up was the 5 Lap, Under 10 category race. Dominating from the start was Wakefield Tri lady rider Ava Oxley-Szilagyi, closely followed over the line by Addam Hathaway for second and Henry Hollyman for third.

The under 12s began racing at 10.30am in a 15 lap race. The race was dominated by Alistair Leivers (Blackpool Youth Cycling Association) and Nathan Hawthorn (Cycle Sport Pendle) with Alistair attacking on several occasions and Nathan managing to stay close by and match any attacks. On several occasions the bunch was strung out as the hammer went down at the front. As the race came to a conclusion, Nathan managed to outwit the most dominating rider and came through the start-finish line first, closely followed by Alistair. In third place was the first girl rider Corrine Side (Bolton Hot Wheels) followed closely by Lewis Hartley (Eastlands Velo) to take the third boy position.

A group of 25 riders started the 25 lap, 25 km, Under 14 Boy/Girl + U16 Girl race. The decisive move of the race came when Adam Hartley (Velocity RT) attacked immediately after his team mate (Matt Walls) had been reeled in after riding off the front for a lap.
This attack forged a break of four riders with Matt Walls, Joseph Peatfield (Bolton Hot Wheels) and Timothy Jones (Cycle Sport Pendle) all joining Adam in the break. Several laps later, Amy Gornall (Cycle Sport Pendle U16 Girl) joined the four lads and then contributed healthily to the strength of the break.

Although a few attempted attacks came and went, it came down to the final lap. Matt was fourth and Adam fifth going into the final bend, and with a long straight and tailwind behind them pushed through the group, with Matt winning by half a bike length and Adam being pipped into third by a further bike length by Joseph Peatfield. Timothy and Amy finished fourth and fifth respectively.
In the final youth race of the day, commencing at noon, 22 Youth A riders lined up for a 45km contest. As usual in youth racing at this level attacks were coming left, right and centre but in most cases the attacking riders were reeled in by other riders that preferred to wait for the final sprint.

Matt Gibson (Warrington RC) and Fabian Brennan (Salt Ayre Cogset) were very active throughout the race but in the end, all respect was paid to Matt Gibson who, with 5 laps remaining, produced a blistering solo attack and remained off the front to the end of the race, gaining around 30 seconds on the bunch.

Riding home in second place was Ellis Kirkbride (Border City Wheelers) followed closely by Fabian Brennan (Salt Ayre Cogset).
After the lunchtime interval, preparations were made for the 3/4 category regional C+ circuit race over 1 hour and 5 laps. The race began at 14.30 with 47 pre-entries and 9 entries on the day taking the total field to 56 (with a track limit of 60 riders).
The decisive move of the race came at the mid-point when 6 riders broke clear. Of these six were two Youth A riders with dispensation: Matt Gibson who won the U16 event in the morning and talent team rider Sean McGovern.

Another interesting development in the race was the determination of Roy Pearson (Ribble Valley CRC) to feature in the final selection. Over several laps, Roy managed to bridge across the gap from the bunch to break.
In the final sprint, Karl Weatherall (Hinckley Cycle Racing Club) got the better of the break and crossed the line a few bike lengths ahead of Ian Earnshaw (Liverpool Mercury) and Youth A rider Matt Gibson (Warrington RC). Roy managed a very credible fourth place considering his effort to bridge across.

Prizes were awarded for the top 3 in each race and also for the top female competitors in each race. A raffle was also carried out on the day with contributions coming from: Velocity 3-in-1 Race Team; Paul Hewitt Cycles; Evans Cycles; Ribble Cycles; High on Bikes; Dolan Cycles; CNP Nutrition; Wallis Cycles; Wyre Cycles; Champion System Clothing; B&M Bargain; and Bradley Wiggins (via his wife Cath Wiggins).

Profit from this event will be in excess of £1,000 with the exact figure still being calculated. A final figure will be available in a few days and arrangements are to be made with the LBTF trustees to hand over a cheque equal to the profit from the event.
Thanks go out to the new team of volunteers (Palatine Cycling Development Group) and all those that helped out with the refreshments, raffle, judging, commissaire duties, first aid, marshalling, signing on and gear checks.

UPDATE
A cheque has been presented to The Lewis Balyckyi Trust Fund for the fantastic amount of £1501.90, Jacqui, Kevin & Natasha would like to thank everyone that took part in the racing and all the volunteers who helped out. We look forward to seeing you all next year. Full results on British Cycling website