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Pictures - Kenilworth Boxing Day cyclo cross brings success for Mick Ives' team

PICTURES BY DAVID HASTINGS / DH PHOTO

With two major cyclo cross events held over the Christmas period , local riders were very much part of the action.

On Boxing Day the evergreen 54-year-old Steve Knight , Team Jewson-MI Racing-Polypipe-McCann, easily won the over 50+ race on Kenilworth Common, a course he is a specialist at, having won the overall event many times.

His team mate Jude Chamberlain finished 3rd in the Junior race, against top International competition. Wellesbourne Garage Owner and former British Champion Tim Stowe, finished 2nd behind the current World Masters Champion in the 60+ race.

Peter Busby finished in 30th place after a mid race puncture and Jimmy Goodwin, a recent convert to cyclo cross finished 60th out of a field of 100 riders.

On Tuesday Team MI Racing organised the British Masters Cycle Race Championships for the 15th year, but for the first time at Napton, Sports Club.

Following torrential rain the course, designed by Multi World Masters Champion Mick Ives, soon became a mud bath and a real test for skills and fitness. World Championship bronze medallist Darren Atkins from Kenilworth had missed the Boxing Day event as he was spending Christmas in Ireland, but arrived back in England in the early hours of Tuesday morning. With no time for sleep, by the time he had arrived home there was just time for a quick breakfast, load up the bikes and arrive at the race.

He was in time to do one reconnaissance lap of the course, before the race start. But that did nothing to stop Darren riding to yet another championship. He had won the Midland Championships a few weeks earlier, making light work of the heavy mud, compared to his rivals in the 50+ Championship. This was his 10th victory of the season.

More medals followed for the MI Race Team, when Tim Stowe finished 2nd in the 60+ Championship and Pete Busby was 3rd in the 55+ Championship, but it was a terrible day for the Team's other big star Steve Knight. He was never in the hunt and had no excuses at the finish, it just wasn't his day, even being lapped by his team mate Atkins. But he still has another week to prepare for the British Open Championships, a race he has won several times before and will form a very important part of the Team's defence in the Team Championship.