Location: Castle Combe, Wiltshire
Event: 6 April 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports

Team Raleigh’s Simon Holt took victory in the Castle Combe Easter Classic circuit race organised by Chippenham Wheelers at the Wiltshire venue on Good Friday.

The 24-year-old from Westbury took the win ahead of experienced Somerset rival Martin Smith (Primal Europe powered by RUtrainingtoday.co.uk), while Will Bjergfelt (Wilier-Live2Ride) took third spot.

The 24-lap elite race was the last of the day and a field of 109 riders made it significantly higher than any other E12 field previously seen at the venue.

With a couple of laps remaining a small group clipped off the front and strung out as they headed for the line, making judging easy for the officials.

With a total of 476 riders across all categories, there was also some keen racing in earlier events.

Swansea’s Mat Ackland won the third cat race, the 33-year-old Urban Cyclery rider winning from M&D Kinetica pair Mathew Cross and Owen Thomas who took second and third respectively.

There was a crash in the fourth cat race during the sprint which left half a dozen riders on the tarmac, with one going to hospital with a suspected shoulder/collar bone injury.

Cheltenham-based Keiron Smith took victory in the fourth cat race, the 36-year-old VC Montpellier rider winning ahead of Gordon Park (NFTO) and Sean Townsend (Gloucester City CC).

There were also some well contested youth races across the categories – see the results below for details.

Results:

E/1/2:
1 Simon Holt (Team Raleigh)
2 Martin Smith (Primal Europe powered by RUtrainingtoday.co.uk)
3 Will Bjergfelt (Wilier-Live2Ride)
4 Dexter Gardias (Zappi’s CC)
5 Freddy Johansson (Team UK Youth)
6 Scott Easter (Felt-Colbornes)
7 Will Fox (Zappi’s CC)
8 Pete Wager (Felt-Colbornes)
9 Nick Baker (Zappi’s CC)
10 John Holt (Team Tredz)

Third Cat:
1 Mat Ackland (Urban Cyclery)
2 Mathew Cross (M&D Kinetica)
3 Owen Thomas (M&D Kinetica)
4 Kurt Green (VC Montpellier)
5 Paul Merryweather (Bristol RC)
6 Simon Barnes (Chippenham & Dist Wh)
7 William Tew (Zappi’s CC)
8 Mike Smith (Gillingham & Dist Wh)
9 Mark Hanby (Chippenham & Dist Wh)
10 Scott Davies (M&D Kinetica)

Fourth Cat:
1 Keiron Smith (VC Montpellier)
2 Gordon Park (NFTO)
3 Sean Townsend (Gloucester City CC)
4 Kevin Jones (unattached)
5 Finn Spicer (Chippenham & Dist Wh)
6 Katie Curtis (Rapha Condor-Sharp)
7 Ian Threadgold (Cheltenham & County CC)
8 Neil Thomas
9 Ryan O’Sullivan (Cardiff JIF)
10 Gerold McDermott (Gannet CC)

Boys:
Under-16s:
1 Harrison Fielding (Poole Wheelers)
2 Adam Beddall (Gloucester City CC)
3 Joe Donahue (Fareham Wheelers)

Under-14s:
1 Peter Kibble (Cycology Bikes)
2 Matthew Walls (Velocity RT)
3 Rhys Britton (Cardiff JIF)

Under-12s:
1 Joe Beckingsale (Abergavenny RC)
2 Owain Roberts (Towy Riders)
3 Joe Rees (Maindy Flyers)

Under-10s:
1 Aaron Freeman (Chelmer CC)
2 Joe Nethell (Maindy Flyers)
3 Ryan Philips (Maindy Flyers)

Under-8s:
1 Josh Tarling (West Wales CRT)
2 Daniel Wylie-Morris (Abergavenny RC)
3 Garan Jones (Towy Riders)

Girls:
Under-16s:
1 Bethany Taylor (Bristol CDS)
2 Manon Lloyd (Towy Riders)
3 Jessica Roberts (Towy Riders)

Under-14s:
1 Jessica Roberts (Towy Riders)
2 Megan Chard (Newport Youth Velo)
3 Elizabeth Bennett (Cardiff JIF)

Under-12s:
1 Megan James (Abergavenny RC)
2 Pfieffer Georgi (Giant CC)
3 Jamie Kimber

Under-10s:
1 Isabelle Bennett (Cardiff JIF)

Under-8s:
1 Heledd Hunt (Towy Riders)
2 Awen Roberts (Towy Riders)
3 Zoe Backstedt (Maindy Flyers)

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.