2026 HELYX Inter-Services Road Race Championships: preview and startlists
Army, Royal Air Force, and Royal Navy meet on the Chitterne circuit on Wednesday 15 July for the annual Inter-Services Road Race Championships; with heat likely to shape the day.
Few National B races start beside a tank crossing. On Wednesday 15 July, the HELYX Inter-Services Road Race Championships bring the Army, Royal Air Force, and Royal Navy to the military range roads of Salisbury Plain, where the Army Cycling Union hosts this year’s edition on the Chitterne circuit in Wiltshire. The RAF arrive as defending champions, and with forecast temperatures nudging 28 degrees, the organisers have invoked a heat protocol: timings may be brought forward and the advertised five laps are likely to be trimmed, with around 80 kilometres the probable distance for the open race.
Featured image: Sarah Jane Swinscoe. Stephen Swindley wins the Wheldrake 200 in 2025.
The Inter-Services Championships are the annual meeting of the three services’ cycling associations, hosted in rotation — this year by the Army Cycling Union, with sponsorship from Helyx. We are told that is the 17th running of the race.
The open championship runs as a National B. Each service can field a maximum of 10 riders per race, with the best six counting towards the team prize, and serving riders may also enter under their civilian club colours. The RAF are the current champions, and their strength in depth last July was emphatic: five riders in the top seven, with James Bunting and Richard Summerbell completing the podium behind overall winner David Bolland, who rode in Spirit Racing Team colours.
The women’s championship opens the day at 10:00 as a Regional C+ race over roughly 60 kilometres, and the Army’s full complement of 10 contains the best palmarès on either startlist: Emily Nelson — madison world champion alongside Katie Archibald in 2018, and winner of the 2019 Women’s CiCLE Classic — lines up against seven RAF riders and a single Royal Navy entrant, Jess Morrish. A week later, on 22 July, the services reconvene at Redbridge for the Inter-Services Criterium Championships.
The route
The 19-kilometre circuit uses the roads of the Chitterne Road Race, run each spring on the same corner of Salisbury Plain. From a neutralised start out of Chitterne village, the race proper begins at the top of the Chitterne climb on the B390, runs to the junction with the A360, and heads north to Tilshead, where it bears left onto an unclassified military range road back west through the finish area and feed zone.
The descent back into Chitterne demands caution — bends and rough surfaces — before a left turn onto the B390 sends the race back up the climb. The advertised race is five laps, though the final count will be confirmed on the day, with the organisers prepared to trim the distance in the heat; riders more than eight minutes behind the main group will be placed and withdrawn for their own safety.
Riders to watch
The defending champions bring back most of last year’s firepower. James Bunting (Royal Air Force CA) was second in 2025 and leads an RAF squad that also includes third-placed Richard Summerbell, fourth-placed Euan Campbell, and Danny Hedley, seventh last year and the form pick among the service riders — he was 11th at the Hugh Dornan Memorial in May and has spent the summer racing the National Circuit Series.
For the hosts, Ian McCaul (Army Cycling Union), who normally races in LCRT colours, is a serving Army rider: he was ninth here last year, took 6th at a Surrey League road race in May, and — usefully — was 17th at April’s Chitterne Road Race on these very roads. Louis Mann and Jack Dallyn (both Army Cycling Union) have picked up National B points this season, while the Royal Navy’s best hope is Stephen Swindley, a DNF last year but comfortably the highest points scorer of the service riders in 2025, especially after his win at the Wheldrake 200.
Few National B races start beside a tank crossing. On Wednesday 15 July, the HELYX Inter-Services Road Race Championships bring the Army, Royal Air Force, and Royal Navy to the military range roads of Salisbury Plain, where the Army Cycling Union hosts this year’s edition on the Chitterne circuit in Wiltshire. The RAF arrive as defending champions, and with forecast temperatures nudging 28 degrees, the organisers have invoked a heat protocol: timings may be brought forward and the advertised five laps are likely to be trimmed, with around 80 kilometres the probable distance for the open race.
Featured image: Sarah Jane Swinscoe. Stephen Swindley wins the Wheldrake 200 in 2025.
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What is it?
The Inter-Services Championships are the annual meeting of the three services’ cycling associations, hosted in rotation — this year by the Army Cycling Union, with sponsorship from Helyx. We are told that is the 17th running of the race.
The open championship runs as a National B. Each service can field a maximum of 10 riders per race, with the best six counting towards the team prize, and serving riders may also enter under their civilian club colours. The RAF are the current champions, and their strength in depth last July was emphatic: five riders in the top seven, with James Bunting and Richard Summerbell completing the podium behind overall winner David Bolland, who rode in Spirit Racing Team colours.
The women’s championship opens the day at 10:00 as a Regional C+ race over roughly 60 kilometres, and the Army’s full complement of 10 contains the best palmarès on either startlist: Emily Nelson — madison world champion alongside Katie Archibald in 2018, and winner of the 2019 Women’s CiCLE Classic — lines up against seven RAF riders and a single Royal Navy entrant, Jess Morrish. A week later, on 22 July, the services reconvene at Redbridge for the Inter-Services Criterium Championships.
The route
The 19-kilometre circuit uses the roads of the Chitterne Road Race, run each spring on the same corner of Salisbury Plain. From a neutralised start out of Chitterne village, the race proper begins at the top of the Chitterne climb on the B390, runs to the junction with the A360, and heads north to Tilshead, where it bears left onto an unclassified military range road back west through the finish area and feed zone.
The descent back into Chitterne demands caution — bends and rough surfaces — before a left turn onto the B390 sends the race back up the climb. The advertised race is five laps, though the final count will be confirmed on the day, with the organisers prepared to trim the distance in the heat; riders more than eight minutes behind the main group will be placed and withdrawn for their own safety.
Riders to watch
The defending champions bring back most of last year’s firepower. James Bunting (Royal Air Force CA) was second in 2025 and leads an RAF squad that also includes third-placed Richard Summerbell, fourth-placed Euan Campbell, and Danny Hedley, seventh last year and the form pick among the service riders — he was 11th at the Hugh Dornan Memorial in May and has spent the summer racing the National Circuit Series.
For the hosts, Ian McCaul (Army Cycling Union), who normally races in LCRT colours, is a serving Army rider: he was ninth here last year, took 6th at a Surrey League road race in May, and — usefully — was 17th at April’s Chitterne Road Race on these very roads. Louis Mann and Jack Dallyn (both Army Cycling Union) have picked up National B points this season, while the Royal Navy’s best hope is Stephen Swindley, a DNF last year but comfortably the highest points scorer of the service riders in 2025, especially after his win at the Wheldrake 200.
Provisional startlists
Open race
Women’s race
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