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.

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

Bib	Rider	Team	Pts
#1	Elliot Bain	Team PB Performance	27
#2	Sam Barbour	Cycling Sheffield	11
#3	John Bardsley	360 cycling	5
#4	Joseph Beckingsale	Spectra Racing	15
#5	Borey Cenfield	Spectrum Racing	0
#6	Ross Birrell	Moonglu SpatzWear	0
#7	Jonny Britton	Moonglu SpatzWear	69
#8	Richard Butler	Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk	0
#9	Euan Cameron	Optimum Coaching	0
#10	Michael Chadwick	Doncaster Wheelers CC	31
#11	Tyler Clare	Torvelo Racing	0
#12	Russell Crowley	Addform-Vive Le Velo	0
#13	Jude Davison	Cog Set Papyrus Racing Club	0
#14	Oliver Dawson	Team Hopplà	0
#15	William Dykes	Vanelli-Project Go	7
#16	Denholm Edwards	Cycling Sheffield	2
#17	Jake Edwards	360 cycling	59
#18	Blain Ewing	Velo Club Cumbria	0
#19	Archie Fletcher	360 cycling	0
#20	Alexander Foster	Cycling Sheffield	36
#21	Michael Fowler	Team Ciara Cycling	0
#22	Elliot Fraser	360 cycling	27
#23	Ben Gibson	Team PB Performance	7
#24	Oliver Halliday	Private Member	0
#25	Ben Harrison	Spectrum Racing	0
#26	Charles Harrison	Private Member	0
#27	Jack Hartley	Moonglu SpatzWear	0
#28	Andrew Hawdon	Private Member	0
#29	Maxwell Hereward	360 cycling	71
#30	Ed Hindmarsh	Wolf Cycles	0
#31	Henry Hunter	Kendal Cycle Club	21
#32	Joel Hurt	Moonglu SpatzWear	13
#33	Matthew Jones	Spectrum Racing	0
#34	Daniel Kendall	Wolf Cycles	0
#35	Sam Kettlewell	TAAP Kalas	0
#36	Dexter Leeming-Sykes	Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	37
#37	Tom Lowe	Spectrum Racing	0
#38	Jack Lucas	Spectrum Racing	0
#39	Conor McKinnon	Moonglu SpatzWear	27
#40	Ben Mewes	Moonglu SpatzWear	0
#41	James Parkin	Wolf Cycles	0
#42	Chris Peareth	Zurbaran Racing	0
#43	Ben Pease	Moonglu SpatzWear	61
#44	Emil Petrov	Border City Wheelers CC	0
#45	Bryan Pool	Border City Wheelers CC	0
#46	Daniel Saba	360 cycling	0
#47	George Safranauskas	360 cycling	6
#48	James Sawyers	Cycling Sheffield	63
#49	Liam Scott Douglas	JG Cycles CC	44
#50	Oliver Sergeant	Prologue Racing Team	20
#51	Aaron Shepherd	Manchester Bicycle Club	0
#52	Chris Sherriffs	Shibden Cycling Club	0
#53	Nathan Smith	Cycling Sheffield	27
#54	Harvey Stroh	TAAP Kalas	0
#55	Craig Summersgill	Wolf Cycles	0
#56	William Taylor	Moonglu SpatzWear	120
#57	Xavier Teece-Round	360 cycling	0
#58	Will Thompson	Spectrum Racing	0
#59	Jem Tokdemir	Spectrum Racing	0
#60	Reuben Trotter	Private Member	0
#61	Jack Unsworth	Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk	0
#62	Matthew Warhurst	Defined Cycling Team	9
#63	Robert Watson	Paceline Cycles North	0
#64	Matthew Webster	Dolan Factory Racing	0
#65	Rafe Williams	Team Judge Tyrekey	0
#66	Jonathan Wilson	Velo Club Cumbria	0
#67	Louie Wilson	Reifen Racing	0
#68	Joseph Wright	Wolf Cycles	0