The Milk Race 2015 (Women’s Race) – Image Gallery

All images ©www.chrismaher.co.uk / CyclingShorts.cc

 

Trott wins 2015 Milk Race by three thousandths of a second

Laura Trott and Kristian House win The Milk Race

Laura Trott today (Sunday 24 May) claimed victory in this year’s elite women’s Milk Race whilst Kristian Houseclaimed the 1st prize in the elite men’s race.

Riding around the city centre course in Nottingham for team Matrix Fitness, Laura beat last year’s champion Katie Archibald of Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International by three thousandths of a second. In third place was Pearl Izumi’s Katie Curtis. Meanwhile, in the men’s race Kristian House of JLT Condor was victorious over team Wiggins’ Andy Tennant and JLT’s Ed Clancy, who came in second and third respectively.

The women’s top five finishers were as follows:

  1. Laura Trott, Matrix Fitness
  2. Katie Archibald, Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International
  3. Katie Curtis, Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International
  4. Dani King, Wiggle Honda
  5. Jessie Walker, RST Racing

Speaking after her triumphant win, Laura said: “It’s great to win such a prestigious event especially with an exciting sprint finish. I’m really pleased to return to Nottingham and be in front of such amazing crowds. Here’s hoping The Milk Race returns again next year!”

The men’s top five finishers were as follows:

  1. Kristian House, JLT Condor
  2. Andy Tennant, Wiggins
  3. Ed Clancy, JLT Condor
  4. Christopher Lawless, Wiggins
  5. Sam Lowe, Raleigh GAC

Following his victory, Kristian said: “It’s great to be part of an event like The Milk Race. The atmosphere and amount of support from the crowd make it one of the best events in England to be part of.”

The Milk Race, which initially ran between 1958 and 1993 as the UK’s leading multistage cycling race, was resurrected in 2013 as a city centre event. In 2015, the majority of the event is being funded by The Dairy Council and DairyCo, meaning that all corners of the dairy industry are working together to put on Britain’s leading one-day cycling extravaganza. More than 100,000 people came out to see The Milk Race across the weekend.

This year, the elite races formed part of a festival of cycling in Nottingham city centre, which included a Schools Ride, a Family Ride, a ride for advanced cyclists and a special ride for the British dairy industry.

Once again, Nottingham’s Old Market Square was transformed into The Milk Race Village, where thousands of spectators took advantage of milk-based products and giveaways from some of the country’s leading dairy companies.

In an elite field containing numerous world, Olympic and British champions, the women’s Milk Race has become a key event in the annual cycling calendar, and offers a first prize of £1,000 – the same value as the men’s event.

Sandy Wilkie, Chairman of The Dairy Council, said: “Last year’s Milk Race was a great occasion but today’s event has surpassed it. It was a fantastic spectacle and a great celebration of cycling and dairy.  Our congratulations go toLaura and Kristian, and here’s hoping that, if further funding can be secured, The Milk Race can be a permanent fixture in the British sporting calendar for many years to come.”

Gwyn Jones, DairyCo Board Chairman, said: “The Milk Race is an iconic cycling event and represents a fabulous platform to promote to the public the benefits of milk and dairy in the context of sport. Sport requires commitment, enthusiasm and huge energy from competitors which is something dairy farmers know and appreciate as they go about their work in producing nutritious milk and the other dairy products millions of us enjoy every day. We’re delighted to be supporting The Milk Race in Nottingham.”

Councillor Dave Trimble, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture at Nottingham City Council, said: “Today was a fantastic day out for residents and visitors. Nottingham is delighted to host such an important cycling event – one of many this summer as we gear up to welcome more world class sporting events. Congratulations to both winners.”

Further information about the 2015 Milk Race can be found at www.themilkrace.com or follow @themilkraceuk on Twitter.

Women’s Milk Race 2014 Photo Gallery

All images ©chrismaher.co.uk / Cycling Shorts.

 

Women’s 2014 Milk Race Results
1. Katie Archibald, Pearl Izumi Sports Tour International
2. Laura Trott, Wiggle Honda
3. Charlotte Becker, Wiggle Honda
4. Elinor Barker, Wiggle Honda
5. Katie Curtis, Starley Primal Pro Cycling

Katie Archibald and Graham Briggs Win 2014 Milk Race

0121_Milk14_Katie_ARCHIBALD_1st_Laura_TROTT_Charlotte_BECKER_PhSpt

 

Katie Archibald today (Sunday 25 May) claimed victory in this year’s elite women’s Milk Race whilst Graham Briggs claimed the 1st prize in the elite men’s race.

Riding around the city centre course in Nottingham for team Pearl Izumi Sports Tour International, the second year running that the legendary event has been held in the city, Katie beat two of the stars of the Wiggle Honda team, Laura Trott and Charlotte Becker into second and third place. Meanwhile, in the men’s race Graham Briggs of Rapha Condor JLT was victorious over Raleigh’s Mathew Boulo and Velosure-Giordana’s Matt Cronshaw, who came in second and third respectively.

The women’s top five finishers were as follows:

1.      Katie Archibald, Pearl Izumi Sports Tour International
2.      Laura Trott, Wiggle Honda
3.      Charlotte Becker, Wiggle Honda
4.      Elinor Barker, Wiggle Honda
5.      Katie Curtis, Starley Primal Pro Cycling

Speaking after her triumphant win, Katie said: “It’s great to win such a prestigious event in front of such amazing crowds. Here’s hoping The Milk Race returns again next year!”

0307_MilkRace14_Mens_Graham_BRIGGS_1st_(Rapha_Condor_JLT)_The men’s top five finishers were as follows:

1.      Graham Briggs, Rapha Condor JLT
2.      Mathew Boulo, Team Raleigh
3.      Matt Cronshaw, Velosure-Giordana RT
4.      Ed Clancy, Rapha Condor JLT
5.      Felix English, Rapha Condor JLT

Following his victory, Graham said: “It’s great to be of an event like The Milk Race. It’s probably the best event in England for the amount of support there is from the crowd and it’s super motivating to hear them shouting your name!”

The Milk Race, which initially ran between 1958 and 1993 until the Milk Marketing Board was disbanded, was resurrected last year by industry bodies The Dairy Council and the Milk Marketing Forum. In 2014, the elite races formed part of a festival of cycling in Nottingham city centre, which included a community ride, a family ride, and a ride for advanced cyclists. Once again, Nottingham’s Old Market Square was transformed into The Milk Race Village, where thousands of spectators took advantage of milk-based products and giveaways from some of the country’s leading dairy companies.

In an elite field containing numerous world, Olympic and British champions, the women’s Milk Race has become a key event in the annual cycling calendar, and offers a first prize of £1,000 – the same value as the men’s event.

Sandy Wilkie, Chairman of The Dairy Council, said: “Last year’s Milk Race was a great occasion but today’s event has surpassed it. It was a fantastic spectacle and a great celebration of cycling and dairy.  Our congratulations go to Katie and Graham, and here’s hoping that, if further funding can be secured, The Milk Race can be a permanent fixture in the British sporting calendar for many years to come.”

Cwmheulog Hill-Climb

‘Cheering on a Competitor’ – My daughter Megan takes on the climb – Image ©David James

When I wrote my first blog for Cycling Shorts I was quite worried when I would be able to write a follow up. Well here I am one day after my “Ponderings from the Velodrome” went online and I find myself with about five hours to kill as I’m on a rapid return journey to Manchester by train.
As I get on the train in Abergavenny I am quite excited to be able to wear my new adidas Sennheiser headphones which were a present from Becky, so my first job is to select some appropriate music on my iPod and make a choice; either continue reading Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage, someone who I am really pleased to say I share a birthday with, or get my note pad and pen out and start scribbling. The fact that you’re reading this gives away the winner!

I did suggest last time that I would write about organising my first ever hill-climb and the thrills of cyclocross, but as the hill-climb was such a success and as I have been hassled ever since to make it an annual event, I am going to stick to just the one subject.

When as a family we first joined Abergavenny Road Club nearly ten years ago I remember one of the first ever road events we went to watch was the club’s Hill-Climb Championship. Living in Abergavenny we are fortunate to have many fantastic road climbs in close proximity to the town, the most famous of which is ‘The Tumble’. This climb has been used on many major events over the years; I can remember watching the Milk Race going up there many years ago and more recently, watching at the toughest part of the climb the last time the National Road Championships were held in the town in 2009.

‘Marking Up the Road’ my son Gareth on the right and my daughter Rachel’s boyfriend Luke on his hands and knees – ©Image David James

The club’s hill-climb used to start just as the road up The Tumble comes out of the trees about half way up the climb and was about one mile in length. In those early years I can recall about twenty riders taking part. I remember the winner the first time I watched, Nick Kenwright, someone who I believe had represented GB. Last year only two riders took part! Whether this drop in competitor numbers is because of the toughness of the climb, because there has been an increase in traffic, or for some other reason, the club’s committee decided we had to do something to rejuvenate the competition.

As we are good friends with Wiggle rider Ben Simmons who has been winning a few Red Bull Hill-Climbs around the country I thought it would be good to try something similar. I suggested to the club committee “Why not use the hill up to our house? We can get a road closure and all the kids can take part as well.” And so the inaugural ‘Cwmheulog Hill-Climb’ was born.

As we live up a dead-end lane, first thing was to get all the neighbours on board: job done! Next up was to speak to Monmouthshire County Council about the road closure. As a local authority Monmouthshire are a pleasure to work with and do everything they can to help with cycling in the county: job done!

Now the question was should I widely advertise the event or just keep it local and see how it goes? Keep it small scale was the consensus of opinion, so I sent out a leaflet with all the details and asked people to email or ring me to let me know if they were coming in order that we could provide free food for all competitors and spectators. With one day to go only one email had been received and I was starting to think it was going to be a big flop. That was until the night before the event when I was made aware that the email address I had put on the leaflet had been misspelt! How could I be so stupid?

A disturbed night’s sleep deliberating what to do, so first thing Saturday morning I’m in Tesco Abergavenny with my youngest Megan buying 120 sausages (half fat!), 120 fingers rolls and 25 garlic baguettes thinking I can always put the surplus in the freezer.

‘Hoping For A Top Quality Competition’ – Image ©David James

5.00pm comes around and the barriers and road closure signs are in place and there’s already a steady stream of cyclists and spectators making their way up the hill to signing on at our house.

51 competitors, 39 youth riders and 12 adults signed on to compete and there was a great deal more than that ready to provide vocal support. It wasn’t a case of putting surplus in the freezer, but raiding it for more supplies!

What can I say about the racing other than I know all too well what it’s like to ride up our hill, so every single person who gave it a go deserves a shout out. The spectators made for a brilliant atmosphere, ringing cowbells, cheering and shouting encouragement to every single rider.

It would be amiss of me not to mention that a youth rider, Evan Davies from Maindy Flyers who completed the climb in 1min 10secs, set the fastest time. Fastest adult was Abergavenny Road Club member James Woodier with a 1min 14secs ride and is the 2012 Abergavenny Road Club Hill-Climb Champion

Other notable facts from the night – all the food went! My wife Christine and Stephanie Best, one of the club coaches and a great volunteer, didn’t leave the kitchen as they slaved over the cooker!

It seems pretty certain with all the feedback I’ve received the hill-climb will become an annual event. Even Ben Simmons and Amy Roberts who were both there as spectators seem eager to get their best wheels out next year! I’ve also tapped up Magnus Backstedt to compete and he said he might as long as it is no more than a minute long!

So watch this space for an event next year that should be a lot bigger and even better. Before I get the go ahead though, Christine said she wants guarantees we are getting caterers in as she is not going to be missing out on all the fun.

Thanks again for reading, now back to Rough Ride.

David James

 

 

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