Location: Bashall Eaves, Lancashire
Event: 4 September 2011
Report: Snowdon Sports
CDNW League runner-up Alistair Rutherford finished the popular league series in style on Sunday, winning the 17th and final round of the series with victory at the tough Bashall Eaves circuit.
The 30-year-old Science in Sport.com rider from Manchester edged ahead of breakaway rival Richard Bott (Herbalife-Wheelbase) in the sprint for the line after the pair had escaped from the bunch and built up a lead of around 45 seconds at the line.
The course is particularly hilly and tough going, and almost immediately after the start it began to take its toll with riders dropping off the back of the bunch even before they were half way up the hill.
And if the climbs didn't cause enough splits a superfast high-speed descent left others behind, so that from the 48 starters in the elite race just 20 made it all the way to the finish.
Rutherford - who won round 14 last month on a similarly hilly course - and Bott were 45 seconds ahead of third-placed Richard Hepworth (Cycle Premier-Metaltek).
Meanwhile, in the supporting 3/4 category race Birkenhead North End's Mike Garner won a bunch sprint finish from Jonathan Stanlake (unattached).
Results:
E/1/2/3:
1 Alistair Rutherford (Science in Sport.com)
2 Richard Bott (Herbalife-Wheelbase)
3 Richard Hepworth (Cycle Premier-Metaltek) @ 45sec
4 Stuart Reid (Herbalife-Wheelbase)
5 Matthew Robinson (All Terrain Cycles)
6 Matthew Pilkington (Progressive Development Squad)
7 Dillon Byrne (Herbalife-Wheelbase)
8 Robert Smail (Cycle Premier-Metaltek)
9 Daniel Storey (Sheffrec CC)
10 Gareth McGuinness (Energy Cycles)
3/4:
1 Mike Garner (Birkenhead North End CC)
2 Jonathan Stanlake (unattached)
3 Ryan Pike (High On Bikes)
4 Steffan North (Wills Wheels)
5 John Findley (Bill Nickson Cycles)
6 John Dodgin (Biketreks Racing Team)
7 Matthew Love (unattached)
8 Nicolas Bertrand (Biketreks Racing Team)
9 Lee Carter (Ribble Valley CRC)
10 Ian Rutherford (Lune RCC) all @ same time
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
