The Bronte BigK Cyklesportive and Race the Train 2010 – Results

The inaugural Bronte BIGK CyKle Sportive was held last Sunday and was instantly hailed as a classic ride to match any in the country by the majority of the field. The event was organised by SportKeighley and Sue Ryder Care – Manorlands Hospice which was the beneficiary of over £3,000 raised.

Over 100 riders defied the rain and blustery winds to test themselves on routes of between 4.8 and 88 miles through the undulating Bronte countryside. Some participants signed up for the charity element, some to enjoy a scenic ride but most were temped by the personal challenge of this event in and the incentive to try and keep pace with a train on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway line.

The new Leeds City College Keighley campus on Dalton Lane made for an impressive start finish point for the event and riders started and finished between Shorn the Sheep and a Bronte Cow which symbolised the landscape were riders were encountering on the routes, the longest which included 21 “classic” climbs in Airedale and Wharfedale.

They were followed at 9.40am by the traditional 4.8 mile Race the Train event, starting next to Keighley Station to climbing Halifax Road to Oxenhope. This year the KWVR Diesel service revved up for the challenge by completing the scheduled 20-minute journey in just 16 minutes 28 seconds meaning that only four of the cyclists in this group managed to beat it up the Worth Valley! It is planned to get someone to hail the train next year at the request stop at Damems in order to slow it down!. The fastest finisher this year was Joe Moses at 15 minutes and 57 seconds. Andrew Blackwood matched the train to the second. Amongst the youngest were Stan Lawler and Molly Holder who started from the special point at Lees Primary School at Cross Roads. All Race the Train finishers received a bacon butty and other goodies upon their arrival at Oxenhope Station.

They were then able to relax and watch the sportive riders as they completed the initial loop of their challenge around Haworth, Oakworth, Oldfield and Stanbury and headed off towards Leeming, Cullingworth, Saltaire, Otley, Ilkley and East Morton. At this point 18 riders returned direct to Keighley, but 51 brave souls continued to complete the full 88 miles and 21 hills finishing with the Murder Mile in Silsden, Cononley, Cowling Pinnacle and Keighley Tarn. The final climb from Steeton drew several unprintable comments from riders with weary legs!

Fastest on the 88-mile route was Stefan Macina in a time of 5 hours 30 minutes and he along with four others managed to beat the average KWVR steam train speed of 15mph for the journey. The last riders home from this route took just under nine hours!
Martin Peace was the first to complete the 65-mile loop but agonisingly in a time of four hours and twenty one failed to beat the train by one minute. David Warden and Michael Thewlis shared a time of two hours and 40 seconds for the 42-mile loop and David Dobson was the first finisher on the 30-mile loop.

All riders enjoyed an “all-you-can-eat” BBQ provided by Manorlands at the finish and generally agreed that it was a memorable challenge and a great day out. Already many of the riders have stated their intention to come back next year with friends and colleagues and several people have offered further help and support for the event which is hopefully set to become a national classic.

Manorlands Fundraiser Andrew Wood who was present at the event said “I’d like to thank all who took part and volunteered at the event and a special thank you to John Dennis who came up with this fantastic format. From the feedback we have received we are expecting to be overwhelmed with interest in the 2011 event which will take place on 17th July and hopefully it will continue to raise substantial funds for the hospice.”

John Dennis thanked the many people who helped to mark the course and marshal the event, and also to Sue Ryder Care, Leeds City College, sportKeighley, Keighley & Craven AC, All-Terrain Cycles, SIS, CTC, KWVR, Sky, British Cycling, the Busfield Arms and Keighley Just Ride Cycle Club.

The next challenge in the BIGK series is the Bronte Mountain Bike Challenge from Oxenhope on Sunday 19th September – see www.brontebikechallenge.org.uk for details.

Dear All,

There is an opportunity for a meeting with the person from Bradford Council in charge of Safer Roads in Bradford District – Steve Thornton.

The meeting will take place on Tuesday 8th June at 5.30pm at Bradford Univeristy, Horton Building (opposite the Richmond Building – the building with the plastic dome) in Room D01.29.

That is on the ground floor. The meeting is for everyone in Bradford. Please come and have a chance to hear what Bradford Council are doing to make roads safer, and give your opinion and seek some positive actions that can take place. Apparently around this time local councils are making Local Transport Plans that will last for 15 years – this may be a chance to make sure we can contribute to these plans.

We aim to finish at 6.30pm (although in reality it might go on til 7pm but we will try our best to stick to an hour).

PLEASE PASS THIS TO PEOPLE YOU KNOW ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE DANGEROUS DRIVING THAT IS OCCURRING EVERYDAY HERE. ASK THEM TO COME TO THE MEETING!

Some people have already written to me and told me of incidents that they have recently experienced. If you have time please write these down, print them off and bring them for Steve Thorton, or email them to him at Steve.Thorton@bradford.gov.uk

more details

The Idea
The idea is to cycle from Haworth in West Yorkshire to Malta, aiming to arrive in Valetta after a c. 2,200 mile ride for 21st August 2010, which is the date of my 50th birthday.

The Route
Basically, from Haworth eastwards through Bradford/Leeds and Castleford to Hull*. Overnight ferry to Europoort and then heading south through Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and right down the west coast of Italy. Ferry to Sicily, down the island and then ferry to Valetta in Malta (see detailed route below). The route is entirely flat apart from the hills!

The Dates
Aiming to set off on Thursday 22nd July 2010 and arrive in Valetta on Friday 20th August 2010. Allowing for rest days on Sunday 1st August in St Moritz in the Alps, Saturday 7th August in Pisa in Italy (to lean against the tower!) and Wednesday 11th August in Rome, this averages out at approx. 70+ miles per day with the longest day being 123 miles and the shortest day 36 miles.
see attached poster

more details

www.justgiving.com/sportjohntomalta.

More details on the conference next week.

Dinner at Victoria Hall on Wednesday 30th filling up fast, £25/ticket, always a great do. Contact John Dennis (sportjohn@blueyonder.co.uk) for details.

(No World Cup matches that night!!)

Slight hitch as the Willow Tree is apparently closed, but the event will go ahead one way or another! Watch this space!

more details

more details

Overall Positions
Overall Positions

As you know we have been using some new technology for the first time and there were one or two little teething problems but we are confident that the attached results are highly accurate.

Thanks to Wendy from Keighley and Craven Athletics Club for doing the back up timing which allowed us to track those of you who jumped with glee over the finishing line and missed out on registering your chip home. As with anything there still may be an odd mistake in the results so please let me know if you spot something that is clearly wrong and I’ll do my best to sort it out.

Overall despite a few minor problems the event went very well and we’d like to thank all who took part and volunteered their services as Marshals around the course. Also a big thank you to our sponsors and supporters, Leeds city College – Keighley Campus, The Keighley Area Committee and White Rose Volkswagen of Kildwick who help us to cover our costs and allow all the entry fees and sponsorship to go to the Hospice. Hopefully we should raise in excess of £12,000 with the event thanks to your support.

One final thing, any of you still have your digital timing chips with you please could you post them to us at the hospice.

Thanks again,

Andrew

Andrew Wood
Community Fundraiser
Sue Ryder Care – Manorlands Hospice
Tel: 01535 640432
Email: andrew.wood@suerydercare.org