Stacked fields lined up at the men’s and women’s Capernwray road races on Sunday as Ollie Peckover (trainSharp) and 16-year-old Cat Ferguson (Shibden Hope Tech) made their mark with surprise wins.
A few weeks earlier than usual in the racing calendar, the prestigious early-season Capernwray road races took place on Sunday 12 March. This year there were full fields for both men’s and women’s – both National B level events – as the first round of three in the Cold Dark North’s Proper Northern Road Race Series.
After a week of yellow weather warnings that saw parts of the country under heavy drifts of snow – and had led to the cancellation of the Eddie Soens Memorial race the previous day – the riders were pleased to be met with a relatively clement day in North Lancashire.
Although they couldn’t feel it at the sheltered HQ, there was a very strong wind blowing all day and this made the traditionally difficult race even tougher. The course famously includes multiple ascents of Sunny Bank as part of an undulating 12-kilometre course through the quiet back lanes around Borwick and Arkholme.
The next round of the Proper Northern Road Race Series will be at Oakenclough on 30 April and entries are open now.
Men’s race
The men started in patchy sunshine and after the long neutralised ride to the start/finish line at the top of Sunny Bank the riders set off on 8 laps of this tricky course. Although it naturally lends itself to breakaway attempts, in recent editions there hadn’t been much successful escaping from the peloton. Sunday’s race saw a change of tack with Jack Crook (Richardsons Trek DAS) and Ollie Peckover (trainSharp Elite) getting away on Lap 2 and building over a minute lead into the savage headwinds on the quiet lanes at the back of the course.
Jack Crook and Ollie Peckover make the early move. Image: Ellen Isherwood
That lead grew over the following laps to 1’30” and then nearly 2 minutes with 3 laps to go before a group of 9 riders including Ben Granger (Mg.K VIS Colors for Peace VPM), Adam Lewis and Leon Mazzone (both Saint Piran), Jacob Smith (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Tomos Pattinson (Tofauti Everyone Active), Huw Buck Jones (Wales Racing Academy), Damien Clayton (Embark Spirit BSS) and Matthew Warhurst (ROKiT-SRCT).
John Roberts (Zappi Racing) leads the chase. Image: Ellen Isherwood
Despite their efforts, Peckover and Crook took the bell with over a minute’s advantage from a swelling group of about 20 riders. And in the end, it was Peckover who took a dominant victory by over 20 seconds. However, it was a rampaging 19-year-old Jacob Smith who pipped a visibly juiced Crook in the sprint for second. Crook held on for the last podium spot – a truly heroic effort after being away for over 80 km in the wind with Peckover.
Jacob Smith overtakes Jack Crook with the finish line in sight. Image: Ellen Isherwood
The team prize was taken by Wheelbase CabTech Castelli who now lead the series and the leading junior was Tomos Pattinson (Tofauti Everyone Active). KOM for the race was Ollie Peckover and Jack Crook picked up the Commissaires’ Combativity Award.
Reaction from Ollie Peckover
“I went into the race with a bit of a plan to try and go solo in the last couple of laps. Obviously Jack Crook, he launched it quite early on, on lap one. And then I think it was George Wood from Cycling Sheffield that went just on the backside of the course along that twist. And yeah, completely opportunistically, I jumped on his wheel, and then that was it, sort of,” Peckover told The British Continental after the race.
Coming into the last couple of laps, Jack, unfortunately, missed a feed, and that turned out to be quite detrimental for him
“Coming into the last couple of laps, Jack, unfortunately, missed a feed, and that turned out to be quite detrimental for him. On the last lap, he finally managed to get a bottle coming around for the bell. But at that point, I think it was just a bit too late for him. The damage had been done.
“Coming into the final lap, we knew that we had about 1 minute 20 coming over the line. And then yeah, that last lap Jack seemed to fade a fair bit. Coming through the headwind section, I was flicking my elbow for him to roll through and share a bit of the work – that’s the hardest bit on the circuit apart from the climb – and he wasn’t able to.
It sort of ruined my headspace a bit at that point and I ended up bottling that attack
“I planned to give a bit of a kick on one of the little kickers on that backside. But then the comms car actually came next to us to honk its horns to give us a time gap. It sort of ruined my headspace a bit at that point and I ended up bottling that attack.
“As soon as we hit the climb, Jack said, ‘just tap it out’. But at that point, the chasing group of, I think, two riders, had managed to close the gap to about 40 seconds. So I knew that if we sat up too much, they would be right on us at the finish. So I continued to tap it out at about threshold-ish. And then when we hit the steep section, I looked back and Jack was starting to lose the wheel. So I knocked it up into a higher gear there, put some more pressure on the pedals and then just pulled away.”
Women’s race
Organisers Cold Dark North pride themselves on putting women’s racing at the forefront of their race calendar – in their 8 years of running races they have always had equal prize money and equal prominence for the women’s events – and Sunday’s field reflected the faith returned to them by the women’s peloton. The field was stacked with talent. Previous winner Mary Wilkinson (Team Boompods), last season’s National Road Series winner Sammie Stuart (Das Handsling) and a number of other notable rising stars including the new Shibden Hope Tech Apex squad took to the start line.
Jo Tindley (Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee) leads the peloton. Image: Ellen Isherwood
Unlike the men, the women faced the high winds with occasional rain on the forecast, not sunshine. The early stages of the race were cagey. The peloton remained together for over three laps until on the difficult headwind-affected section past Arkholme on lap 4, Bexy Dew (Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee) and Ellen McDermott (Team Boompods) clipped off the front of the bunch on a determined but speculative attack. Through some incredibly gutsy riding, it stuck and by the same point on lap 5 of 6 they had over a minute and a half’s advantage as the rain started to strengthen.
Ellen McDermott and Bexy Dew lead the race on lap 5 of 6. Image: Ellen Isherwood
When the leading pair took the bell, that advantage was up to two minutes. In (what she later admitted was) an attempt to claim the QOM, Sammie Stuart set off ahead of the peloton at the summit with Shibden’s 16-year-old first-year junior track and cyclocross prospect Cat Ferguson for company. With 15 seconds over the main bunch at the line, they wouldn’t be seen again
In the lap that followed, McDermott lost her chain and with it, she lost touch with Dew. The Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee rider battled bravely on her own out front in the headwind whilst McDermott tried to cling on to the now-flying Stuart and Ferguson.
Sammie Stuart and Cat Ferguson make their move on the penultimate ascent of Sunny Bank. Image: Ellen Isherwood
As the noise of supporters rolled up the final drag of Sunny Bank it was Ferguson who rounded the final corner with her arm up in celebration (making up well over 2 minutes on the final lap) and Stuart that rolled in a little surprised to have earned second.
Ellen McDermott rounded off a stellar effort with third and Dew, who had given everything, took a gutsy sixth. There were impressive rides by Zoe Langham (Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee) and Imogen Wolff (Shibden Hope Tech Apex) in fourth and fifth respectively.
The team prize was taken by Shibden Hope Tech Apex on their competitive debut with great performances from Imogen Wolff and Esther Wong to secure the prize in a very close competition. QOM was Stuart and the leading junior was Ferguson. It was Bexy Dew that won the Combativity Award for her efforts on the final lap before eventually reaching empty on the slopes of Sunny Bank.
The organisers would like to thank the Comms, Volunteers, Medics, Accredited Marshals and NEG riders as well as their sponsors for helping make the Proper Northern Road Race Series possible – they are Ribble Cycles, Wheelbase, Become Wild Edale, Fell Brewery and Atkinsons Coffee.
Ferguson takes the win ahead of Stuart. Image: Ellen Isherwood
Reaction from Cat Ferguson
“My strategy was to play to use my strengths – climbing and my technical ability from the ‘cross rider within me”, Ferguson told The British Continental post-race. “There was a section of the course that was very twisty and windy towards the bottom. So I was planning to use that to my advantage if I ever got myself into a breakaway by doing most of my work on that section as I knew that it would suit me the best.
The plan was just to stay in the group and keep an eye on a couple of the girls like Sammie Stuart and Mary Wilkinson
“But really the plan was just to stay in the group and keep an eye on a couple of the girls like Sammie Stuart and Mary Wilkinson, who I knew were very good riders and were more likely to attack.
“Then on the final lap, there were two girls up the road and I was told there was a two-minute gap. I was feeling quite fresh, so I decided to attack on the penultimate ascent of the hill. That’s where me and Sammie Stuart, we’d both been sprinting for QOM points throughout the race – managed to get quite a big gap on the main peloton.
“We worked together and communicated well and managed to catch the two leaders, which was very unexpected, to be honest. It wasn’t really the aim of my attack. I was thinking more of attacking and hopefully securing, maybe third or fourth.
“The two girls up front were split up, which probably helped us to catch them. We were lucky that we caught the final rider [Bexy Dew] at the bottom of the final climb. Me and Sammie managed to drop her, and then we sprinted it out to the finish.
I felt very shocked to win. It only occurred to me that, ‘oh, I could win this’, on the final ascent of the hill
“I felt very shocked to win. It only occurred to me that, ‘oh, I could win this’, on the final ascent of the hill. The previous three laps I’d been thinking. there is no way of even catching them’, so when we caught them, and it sunk in a bit on that final climb that I could actually win the race, it was amazing.
And then to actually win the race, win my first road race as a junior, was incredible. The course and the organisation was amazing, so a big thank you to Cold Dark North.”
Talking points
We should be careful of over-hyping young riders, but it is probably safe to say that Cat Ferguson underlined what an outstanding prospect she is. She was already a serial winner at youth level, and then had an excellent ‘cross season over the winter, mixing it with the likes of world champion Fem van Empel. But to win her first road race as a junior against such a high quality field really does mark her out as one to watch, both this season and well beyond.
Jack Crook proved he is one of the form riders of the men’s domestic peloton so far this year, backing up a 4th place at the Perfs Pedal with a third here. Who knows, without his missed feed, he may have placed even higher at Capernwray.
Wheelbase CabTech Castelli has a habit of unearthing young talent. Last season, Callum Thornley was a standout young performer, since snapped up by TRINITY Racing. With second place at Capernwray, could Jacob Smith be their next success?
Sammie Stuart seemed a little surprised to perform so strongly on terrain that doesn’t perhaps play to her (many) strengths, but with second place yesterday, the 2023 National Road Series hinted that she may well be on course for yet another standout season.
Ollie Peckover may have been disappointed to step down from UCI Continental level after Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling folded at the end of 2022, but he’s started 2023 with a bang and we’re looking forward to seeing how his season progresses with his new trainSharp outfit.
Stacked fields lined up at the men’s and women’s Capernwray road races on Sunday as Ollie Peckover (trainSharp) and 16-year-old Cat Ferguson (Shibden Hope Tech) made their mark with surprise wins.
Featured image: Ellen Isherwood
Report
A few weeks earlier than usual in the racing calendar, the prestigious early-season Capernwray road races took place on Sunday 12 March. This year there were full fields for both men’s and women’s – both National B level events – as the first round of three in the Cold Dark North’s Proper Northern Road Race Series.
After a week of yellow weather warnings that saw parts of the country under heavy drifts of snow – and had led to the cancellation of the Eddie Soens Memorial race the previous day – the riders were pleased to be met with a relatively clement day in North Lancashire.
Although they couldn’t feel it at the sheltered HQ, there was a very strong wind blowing all day and this made the traditionally difficult race even tougher. The course famously includes multiple ascents of Sunny Bank as part of an undulating 12-kilometre course through the quiet back lanes around Borwick and Arkholme.
The next round of the Proper Northern Road Race Series will be at Oakenclough on 30 April and entries are open now.
Men’s race
The men started in patchy sunshine and after the long neutralised ride to the start/finish line at the top of Sunny Bank the riders set off on 8 laps of this tricky course. Although it naturally lends itself to breakaway attempts, in recent editions there hadn’t been much successful escaping from the peloton. Sunday’s race saw a change of tack with Jack Crook (Richardsons Trek DAS) and Ollie Peckover (trainSharp Elite) getting away on Lap 2 and building over a minute lead into the savage headwinds on the quiet lanes at the back of the course.
That lead grew over the following laps to 1’30” and then nearly 2 minutes with 3 laps to go before a group of 9 riders including Ben Granger (Mg.K VIS Colors for Peace VPM), Adam Lewis and Leon Mazzone (both Saint Piran), Jacob Smith (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Tomos Pattinson (Tofauti Everyone Active), Huw Buck Jones (Wales Racing Academy), Damien Clayton (Embark Spirit BSS) and Matthew Warhurst (ROKiT-SRCT).
Despite their efforts, Peckover and Crook took the bell with over a minute’s advantage from a swelling group of about 20 riders. And in the end, it was Peckover who took a dominant victory by over 20 seconds. However, it was a rampaging 19-year-old Jacob Smith who pipped a visibly juiced Crook in the sprint for second. Crook held on for the last podium spot – a truly heroic effort after being away for over 80 km in the wind with Peckover.
The team prize was taken by Wheelbase CabTech Castelli who now lead the series and the leading junior was Tomos Pattinson (Tofauti Everyone Active). KOM for the race was Ollie Peckover and Jack Crook picked up the Commissaires’ Combativity Award.
Reaction from Ollie Peckover
“I went into the race with a bit of a plan to try and go solo in the last couple of laps. Obviously Jack Crook, he launched it quite early on, on lap one. And then I think it was George Wood from Cycling Sheffield that went just on the backside of the course along that twist. And yeah, completely opportunistically, I jumped on his wheel, and then that was it, sort of,” Peckover told The British Continental after the race.
“Coming into the last couple of laps, Jack, unfortunately, missed a feed, and that turned out to be quite detrimental for him. On the last lap, he finally managed to get a bottle coming around for the bell. But at that point, I think it was just a bit too late for him. The damage had been done.
“Coming into the final lap, we knew that we had about 1 minute 20 coming over the line. And then yeah, that last lap Jack seemed to fade a fair bit. Coming through the headwind section, I was flicking my elbow for him to roll through and share a bit of the work – that’s the hardest bit on the circuit apart from the climb – and he wasn’t able to.
“I planned to give a bit of a kick on one of the little kickers on that backside. But then the comms car actually came next to us to honk its horns to give us a time gap. It sort of ruined my headspace a bit at that point and I ended up bottling that attack.
“As soon as we hit the climb, Jack said, ‘just tap it out’. But at that point, the chasing group of, I think, two riders, had managed to close the gap to about 40 seconds. So I knew that if we sat up too much, they would be right on us at the finish. So I continued to tap it out at about threshold-ish. And then when we hit the steep section, I looked back and Jack was starting to lose the wheel. So I knocked it up into a higher gear there, put some more pressure on the pedals and then just pulled away.”
Women’s race
Organisers Cold Dark North pride themselves on putting women’s racing at the forefront of their race calendar – in their 8 years of running races they have always had equal prize money and equal prominence for the women’s events – and Sunday’s field reflected the faith returned to them by the women’s peloton. The field was stacked with talent. Previous winner Mary Wilkinson (Team Boompods), last season’s National Road Series winner Sammie Stuart (Das Handsling) and a number of other notable rising stars including the new Shibden Hope Tech Apex squad took to the start line.
Unlike the men, the women faced the high winds with occasional rain on the forecast, not sunshine. The early stages of the race were cagey. The peloton remained together for over three laps until on the difficult headwind-affected section past Arkholme on lap 4, Bexy Dew (Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee) and Ellen McDermott (Team Boompods) clipped off the front of the bunch on a determined but speculative attack. Through some incredibly gutsy riding, it stuck and by the same point on lap 5 of 6 they had over a minute and a half’s advantage as the rain started to strengthen.
When the leading pair took the bell, that advantage was up to two minutes. In (what she later admitted was) an attempt to claim the QOM, Sammie Stuart set off ahead of the peloton at the summit with Shibden’s 16-year-old first-year junior track and cyclocross prospect Cat Ferguson for company. With 15 seconds over the main bunch at the line, they wouldn’t be seen again
In the lap that followed, McDermott lost her chain and with it, she lost touch with Dew. The Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee rider battled bravely on her own out front in the headwind whilst McDermott tried to cling on to the now-flying Stuart and Ferguson.
As the noise of supporters rolled up the final drag of Sunny Bank it was Ferguson who rounded the final corner with her arm up in celebration (making up well over 2 minutes on the final lap) and Stuart that rolled in a little surprised to have earned second.
Ellen McDermott rounded off a stellar effort with third and Dew, who had given everything, took a gutsy sixth. There were impressive rides by Zoe Langham (Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee) and Imogen Wolff (Shibden Hope Tech Apex) in fourth and fifth respectively.
The team prize was taken by Shibden Hope Tech Apex on their competitive debut with great performances from Imogen Wolff and Esther Wong to secure the prize in a very close competition. QOM was Stuart and the leading junior was Ferguson. It was Bexy Dew that won the Combativity Award for her efforts on the final lap before eventually reaching empty on the slopes of Sunny Bank.
The organisers would like to thank the Comms, Volunteers, Medics, Accredited Marshals and NEG riders as well as their sponsors for helping make the Proper Northern Road Race Series possible – they are Ribble Cycles, Wheelbase, Become Wild Edale, Fell Brewery and Atkinsons Coffee.
Reaction from Cat Ferguson
“My strategy was to play to use my strengths – climbing and my technical ability from the ‘cross rider within me”, Ferguson told The British Continental post-race. “There was a section of the course that was very twisty and windy towards the bottom. So I was planning to use that to my advantage if I ever got myself into a breakaway by doing most of my work on that section as I knew that it would suit me the best.
“But really the plan was just to stay in the group and keep an eye on a couple of the girls like Sammie Stuart and Mary Wilkinson, who I knew were very good riders and were more likely to attack.
“Then on the final lap, there were two girls up the road and I was told there was a two-minute gap. I was feeling quite fresh, so I decided to attack on the penultimate ascent of the hill. That’s where me and Sammie Stuart, we’d both been sprinting for QOM points throughout the race – managed to get quite a big gap on the main peloton.
“We worked together and communicated well and managed to catch the two leaders, which was very unexpected, to be honest. It wasn’t really the aim of my attack. I was thinking more of attacking and hopefully securing, maybe third or fourth.
“The two girls up front were split up, which probably helped us to catch them. We were lucky that we caught the final rider [Bexy Dew] at the bottom of the final climb. Me and Sammie managed to drop her, and then we sprinted it out to the finish.
“I felt very shocked to win. It only occurred to me that, ‘oh, I could win this’, on the final ascent of the hill. The previous three laps I’d been thinking. there is no way of even catching them’, so when we caught them, and it sunk in a bit on that final climb that I could actually win the race, it was amazing.
And then to actually win the race, win my first road race as a junior, was incredible. The course and the organisation was amazing, so a big thank you to Cold Dark North.”
Talking points
Results
Men’s race
Women’s race
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