2025 North West, Yorkshire & North East Regional Road Race Championships: preview and startlist
Regional titles rarely come with a championship jersey to show off in the bunch, but they do confer something just as valuable: year-long bragging rights and a line on the palmarès that can open doors to bigger starts. On Sunday those rights will be settled on Cumbria’s rolling Calthwaite circuit, where the North West, Yorkshire & North East Championships unfold over ten laps of a lumpy circuit.
Regional titles rarely come with a championship jersey to show off in the bunch, but they do confer something just as valuable: year-long bragging rights and a line on the palmarès that can open doors to bigger starts. On Sunday those rights will be settled on Cumbria’s rolling Calthwaite circuit, where the North West, Yorkshire & North East Championships unfold over ten laps of a lumpy 16.1 km rectangle almost 100 unforgiving miles. A shortage of entries has rolled the women’s title into the Midlands fixture, leaving the open race to carry the regional banner alone.
Organised by Spectrum Racing, the North West, Yorkshire & North East Regional Road Race Championships are a single National-B fixture that crowns three divisional champions in one race. Riders from all regions can enter, but the first North West, first Yorkshire and first North East licence-holder over the line each take their respective titles, a British Cycling medal and—crucially—automatic qualification for the National Road Championships later in June. Last summer Jack Hartley (Cycling Sheffield) claimed the open title while Megan Anderson (Team Boompods) sprinted to the women’s crown.
Route
The race takes in 10 laps of the 16.1km rectangular Calthwaite circuit to subject riders to 160km / 99 miles of action on a course that couldn’t particularly be described as flat.
Indeed, the rolling circuit features a number of climbs that stretch out over a few kilometres – notably on the run from Low Braithwaite to Hutton End – as well as a few sharper ascents, including one that summits just before the finish line.
Combine those with a quick descent into Calthwaite, and it’s course that will no doubt be a leg-sapper.
Riders to watch
68 riders are set to take to the start line, and the field is stacked with options for potential winners.
Looking to defend his title is Jack Hartley, and after a winning debut for his new Moonglu SpatzWear team at the GA Bennett last weekend, he will be the rider with a target on his back as the competition looks to mark him out of contention for a second win in a week, and another year as Northern champion.
He’s got a strong squad around him, who could even stake a claim for a win of their own. William Taylor took a commanding win at the Andrew Matheson Memorial and with a second on the final stage of the Peaks 2 Day, he’ll be keeping his team-mate honest, if not striking out on his own.
They’ll have more than adequate support – or competition – as Ben Pease and Jonny Britton both head to the edge of the Lake District with second and fifth respectively from the recent Wheldrake 200 and have the ability to snipe for a win.
What competition, then, for the men in pink? Cycling Sheffield’s James Sawyers is coming into form at the right time, with a 13th at the Wheldrake leading to a second in the Andrew Matheson putting the 18-year-old in a great position to go one step higher and clinch a break-through senior win.
The 360cycling team will also offer competition, fresh from five mountainous days at the UCI Ronde de l’Isard. In particular, Jake Edwards has been one of the season’s revelations for the young 360 squad. He sprinted to 4th at the Capernwray Road Race in April, and was third on stage 2 of the Peaks 2 Day stage race a fortnight earlier. Maxwell Hereward is another potential winner. He logged 4th at the PB Performance Espoirs Road Race round and 7th in Capernwray this year. Nineteenth at the East Cleveland Classic shows he can survive National-A tempo, and a course with multiple drags into a head-wind sprint suits his powerful turn of speed.
At 36, Doncaster Wheelers’ Michael Chadwick brings race craft to spare. He was 6th in the 200 km Wheldrake Road Race, 11th in the GA Bennett Road Race on the Lincolnshire lanes this Monday and finished 31st at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix—no mean feat on the cobbled Michaelgate circuit.
Elsewhere, Dexter Leeming-Sykes continues his return to the rough-and-tumble of the British scene with Wheelbase CabTech Casetelli and is looking to kick-start a season to mirror the one he was enjoying in France last year, where podiums were a regular occurrence.
Timing
The race gets underway at 11.00, and we’ll be covering the race live over on our Live Ticker, which you can find on our Stats Hub.
Regional titles rarely come with a championship jersey to show off in the bunch, but they do confer something just as valuable: year-long bragging rights and a line on the palmarès that can open doors to bigger starts. On Sunday those rights will be settled on Cumbria’s rolling Calthwaite circuit, where the North West, Yorkshire & North East Championships unfold over ten laps of a lumpy 16.1 km rectangle almost 100 unforgiving miles. A shortage of entries has rolled the women’s title into the Midlands fixture, leaving the open race to carry the regional banner alone.
Here is our preview.
Featured image: Sarah Jane Swinscoe
What is it?
Organised by Spectrum Racing, the North West, Yorkshire & North East Regional Road Race Championships are a single National-B fixture that crowns three divisional champions in one race. Riders from all regions can enter, but the first North West, first Yorkshire and first North East licence-holder over the line each take their respective titles, a British Cycling medal and—crucially—automatic qualification for the National Road Championships later in June. Last summer Jack Hartley (Cycling Sheffield) claimed the open title while Megan Anderson (Team Boompods) sprinted to the women’s crown.
Route
The race takes in 10 laps of the 16.1km rectangular Calthwaite circuit to subject riders to 160km / 99 miles of action on a course that couldn’t particularly be described as flat.
Indeed, the rolling circuit features a number of climbs that stretch out over a few kilometres – notably on the run from Low Braithwaite to Hutton End – as well as a few sharper ascents, including one that summits just before the finish line.
Combine those with a quick descent into Calthwaite, and it’s course that will no doubt be a leg-sapper.
Riders to watch
68 riders are set to take to the start line, and the field is stacked with options for potential winners.
Looking to defend his title is Jack Hartley, and after a winning debut for his new Moonglu SpatzWear team at the GA Bennett last weekend, he will be the rider with a target on his back as the competition looks to mark him out of contention for a second win in a week, and another year as Northern champion.
He’s got a strong squad around him, who could even stake a claim for a win of their own. William Taylor took a commanding win at the Andrew Matheson Memorial and with a second on the final stage of the Peaks 2 Day, he’ll be keeping his team-mate honest, if not striking out on his own.
They’ll have more than adequate support – or competition – as Ben Pease and Jonny Britton both head to the edge of the Lake District with second and fifth respectively from the recent Wheldrake 200 and have the ability to snipe for a win.
What competition, then, for the men in pink? Cycling Sheffield’s James Sawyers is coming into form at the right time, with a 13th at the Wheldrake leading to a second in the Andrew Matheson putting the 18-year-old in a great position to go one step higher and clinch a break-through senior win.
The 360cycling team will also offer competition, fresh from five mountainous days at the UCI Ronde de l’Isard. In particular, Jake Edwards has been one of the season’s revelations for the young 360 squad. He sprinted to 4th at the Capernwray Road Race in April, and was third on stage 2 of the Peaks 2 Day stage race a fortnight earlier. Maxwell Hereward is another potential winner. He logged 4th at the PB Performance Espoirs Road Race round and 7th in Capernwray this year. Nineteenth at the East Cleveland Classic shows he can survive National-A tempo, and a course with multiple drags into a head-wind sprint suits his powerful turn of speed.
At 36, Doncaster Wheelers’ Michael Chadwick brings race craft to spare. He was 6th in the 200 km Wheldrake Road Race, 11th in the GA Bennett Road Race on the Lincolnshire lanes this Monday and finished 31st at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix—no mean feat on the cobbled Michaelgate circuit.
Elsewhere, Dexter Leeming-Sykes continues his return to the rough-and-tumble of the British scene with Wheelbase CabTech Casetelli and is looking to kick-start a season to mirror the one he was enjoying in France last year, where podiums were a regular occurrence.
Timing
The race gets underway at 11.00, and we’ll be covering the race live over on our Live Ticker, which you can find on our Stats Hub.
Provisional Startlist
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