divingtorch

Richmond was the location for this year’s hotly contested National Mountain Bike Championships on what turned out to be an incredibly arduous course.

Nevertheless, Matlock Cycling Club members gained some impressive placings.

Arthur Green secured a silver medal in the juvenile category after putting in the performance of a lifetime. The Matlock Mercury Sports Award winner hammered his way around the tough course, making light work of the technical sessions and using his great form to power up the climbs.

He was in contention all the way round but Calum Magowan of Peebles CC just got the better of Green at the finish to take first place and the gold medal.

Green’s teammate Gregg Booker rode to an extremely impressive 11th place overall and was unlucky to be just nudged out of the top ten.

In the girl’s juvenile category, Matlock’s Sarah Lomas put in yet another strong performance in a National Championships. This time, Lomas finished in fifth place overall with Abergavenny Road Club’s Ffion James taking the win.

In the Junior Male category, local rider Matt Sumpton of CNP-Orbea Race Team took a well-deserved win and gold medal after fending off the challenge of Alex Baker, who pushed Sumpton all the way.

In the adult races, Matlock also had some fantastic placings with Derek Hunter finishing in the top ten of the Veteran Males. Paul Dalton finished 15th in the Grand Veteran Male category.

Great Longstone’s Annie Last capped off a great day for the local riders as she took the gold medal in the elite women’s category.

Meanwhile, Bolsover & District Cycling Club hosted a fun packed weekend of events at Hardwick Hall.

On Friday night, there was a nighttime Mountain Bike race in which Arthur Green took an eighth place overall, beating many adults in the process. The result was impressive and Green won the Youth race by a country mile.

Saturday night saw the riders tackle the closed road to Hardwick Hall as a timed Hill Climb.

Arthur’s father Chris Green rode to a win, beating many top riders in the process and setting a new course record.

The Greens’ success didn’t stop there as the father/son duo recorded a one-two in Matlock’s 10.4-mile Long Hilly time trial on Thursday with Chris Green coming out on top. He won in a time of 29 minutes and 31 seconds, exactly a minute faster than his son.

Carl Dyke set a season’s best time to finish in third place with a time of 31 minutes and 43 seconds.

Round two of the Matlock v Derby Mercury interclub time-trial was held on Tuesday on Derby Mercury’s 12.5-mile Long Lane Course.

Only five Matlock riders rode with Chris Green puncturing, so only four counted to the overall results.

Needless to say, Derby Mercury overhauled the deficit after the first round to take a convincing win.

The fastest rider on the night was once again James Tucker who riders for South Pennine. Second place went to Derby Mercury’s John Manning, with Leigh Fearn being Matlock’s fastest finished in third place.