A National B returns to the Lophams circuit on Sunday 12 July: 117 kilometres around flat, exposed Norfolk lanes, two clubs sharing the work required to keep road racing alive, and a former world Hour Record holder on the startlist.
A National B returns to the Lophams circuit on Sunday 12 July: 117 kilometres around flat, exposed Norfolk lanes, two clubs sharing the work required to keep road racing alive, and a former world Hour Record holder on the startlist.
The afternoon half of a two-race programme on the Lophams circuit, organised through a collaboration between neighbouring clubs VC Norwich and Diss CC. Diss CC opens the day with a 69-kilometre Regional B for third- and fourth-category riders at 09:00; VC Norwich’s National B follows at 13:00, with Elite, first-, second- and third-category riders facing 19 laps and 117 kilometres.
The distinction is worth making because last summer’s planned programme was slightly different. VC Norwich was due to promote the morning Regional B, while Diss CC had the National B in the afternoon. Both races were cancelled. This year, VC Norwich has taken on the higher-level event, with the clubs again pooling volunteers and resources to put two races on the road.
Race listings do not usually come with appeals attached. The one for Sunday’s VC Norwich Road Race does. “Come and help us keep road race options open in the northern part of the Eastern BC Region,” writes organiser Stephen Swift, in a line that says as much about the state of racing in East Anglia as it does about the event itself. In a region where fixtures have more often been falling from the calendar than joining it, a National B sustained by two clubs working together is worth turning out for.
Entries are being accepted on the line.
Route
Nineteen laps of the Lophams triangle, on the quiet lanes between North Lopham and Kenninghall, hard against the Norfolk–Suffolk border. After a neutralised 1.7-kilometre roll-out through North Lopham village, the circuit runs anticlockwise through three marshalled left-hand turns: up Kenninghall Road, onto Garboldisham Road, then downhill onto the narrow Lopham Road—the programme’s own caution—which carries the finish line before rejoining Kenninghall Road at the village edge.
The profile is as flat as it reads: the course map shows barely 40 metres of climbing per lap. That leaves the racing to be made by wind, positioning, and attrition—and the organisers have added their own selective pressure, warning that on so short a circuit, riders dropped behind the convoy, or groups more than three minutes down, may be pulled at the commissaires’ discretion. A narrow finish road puts a further premium on positioning in the finale.
The forecast, at the time of writing, suggests a warm, dry afternoon in the mid-20s Celsius with little chance of rain. If the wind stays down, expect a sizeable group deep into the final laps; if it gets up across the exposed sections, rather less so.
Riders to watch
Only two Elite licences appear on the startlist, and one of them belongs to the man to beat. Frank Longstaff (DAS Richardsons) is comfortably the highest-ranked rider in the field. He was 2nd at the Jock Wadley Memorial in March and has spent early summer sharpening his speed on the circuits—3rd at the Colne round of the National Circuit Series, 6th at the National Circuit Championship, 7th at Otley—and a fast finish on flat roads is precisely his territory. He won the Cambridge Criterium in 2024, so East Anglian roads hold no mysteries. Teammate Benjamin Myers gives DAS Richardsons a second card to play.
Bigham racing at the Lotus track in 2025. Image: That Shot Media
Then there is the startlist’s curiosity: Dan Bigham (WattShop)—yes, that Dan Bigham, the former hour record holder—racing, of all things, on a second-category licence. Bigham is no stranger to these roads: he won the DAP CC Road Race in May 2025 and was 6th at the Derek Lusher Memorial, the Eastern road championship, a week later. If the race fragments, an engine like his off the front is everyone else’s problem.
Lance Childs (RideRevolution Coaching CT) was 7th at the Andrews Trophy in April and 11th at the London Dynamo Road Race, incorporating the regional championships, at the end of May. His recent circuit outings have been less kind, but a return to a long, flat road race plays to his strengths. Among the under-23s, 18-year-old Ben Arey (Halesowen A&CC Academy) took 4th at the Northern Regional Road Race Championships in May in the middle of a full national programme, while 19-year-old William Pollard (Team PB Performance) was 9th at the Eastern Road Race Championships—so he knows exactly what a Norfolk wind race looks like. Nathaniel Ground (Dulwich Paragon CC) and Ashley Hutchison (TAAP Kalas) are next best on ranking points and should be in the mix.
A National B returns to the Lophams circuit on Sunday 12 July: 117 kilometres around flat, exposed Norfolk lanes, two clubs sharing the work required to keep road racing alive, and a former world Hour Record holder on the startlist.
Here is our preview.
Featured image: Sarah Jane Swinscoe
What is it?
The afternoon half of a two-race programme on the Lophams circuit, organised through a collaboration between neighbouring clubs VC Norwich and Diss CC. Diss CC opens the day with a 69-kilometre Regional B for third- and fourth-category riders at 09:00; VC Norwich’s National B follows at 13:00, with Elite, first-, second- and third-category riders facing 19 laps and 117 kilometres.
The distinction is worth making because last summer’s planned programme was slightly different. VC Norwich was due to promote the morning Regional B, while Diss CC had the National B in the afternoon. Both races were cancelled. This year, VC Norwich has taken on the higher-level event, with the clubs again pooling volunteers and resources to put two races on the road.
Race listings do not usually come with appeals attached. The one for Sunday’s VC Norwich Road Race does. “Come and help us keep road race options open in the northern part of the Eastern BC Region,” writes organiser Stephen Swift, in a line that says as much about the state of racing in East Anglia as it does about the event itself. In a region where fixtures have more often been falling from the calendar than joining it, a National B sustained by two clubs working together is worth turning out for.
Entries are being accepted on the line.
Route
Nineteen laps of the Lophams triangle, on the quiet lanes between North Lopham and Kenninghall, hard against the Norfolk–Suffolk border. After a neutralised 1.7-kilometre roll-out through North Lopham village, the circuit runs anticlockwise through three marshalled left-hand turns: up Kenninghall Road, onto Garboldisham Road, then downhill onto the narrow Lopham Road—the programme’s own caution—which carries the finish line before rejoining Kenninghall Road at the village edge.
The profile is as flat as it reads: the course map shows barely 40 metres of climbing per lap. That leaves the racing to be made by wind, positioning, and attrition—and the organisers have added their own selective pressure, warning that on so short a circuit, riders dropped behind the convoy, or groups more than three minutes down, may be pulled at the commissaires’ discretion. A narrow finish road puts a further premium on positioning in the finale.
The forecast, at the time of writing, suggests a warm, dry afternoon in the mid-20s Celsius with little chance of rain. If the wind stays down, expect a sizeable group deep into the final laps; if it gets up across the exposed sections, rather less so.
Riders to watch
Only two Elite licences appear on the startlist, and one of them belongs to the man to beat. Frank Longstaff (DAS Richardsons) is comfortably the highest-ranked rider in the field. He was 2nd at the Jock Wadley Memorial in March and has spent early summer sharpening his speed on the circuits—3rd at the Colne round of the National Circuit Series, 6th at the National Circuit Championship, 7th at Otley—and a fast finish on flat roads is precisely his territory. He won the Cambridge Criterium in 2024, so East Anglian roads hold no mysteries. Teammate Benjamin Myers gives DAS Richardsons a second card to play.
Then there is the startlist’s curiosity: Dan Bigham (WattShop)—yes, that Dan Bigham, the former hour record holder—racing, of all things, on a second-category licence. Bigham is no stranger to these roads: he won the DAP CC Road Race in May 2025 and was 6th at the Derek Lusher Memorial, the Eastern road championship, a week later. If the race fragments, an engine like his off the front is everyone else’s problem.
Lance Childs (RideRevolution Coaching CT) was 7th at the Andrews Trophy in April and 11th at the London Dynamo Road Race, incorporating the regional championships, at the end of May. His recent circuit outings have been less kind, but a return to a long, flat road race plays to his strengths. Among the under-23s, 18-year-old Ben Arey (Halesowen A&CC Academy) took 4th at the Northern Regional Road Race Championships in May in the middle of a full national programme, while 19-year-old William Pollard (Team PB Performance) was 9th at the Eastern Road Race Championships—so he knows exactly what a Norfolk wind race looks like. Nathaniel Ground (Dulwich Paragon CC) and Ashley Hutchison (TAAP Kalas) are next best on ranking points and should be in the mix.
Provisional startlist
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