Caton 9th at the Nationals

On a glorious hot summers day 125 riders turned out to compete in the Reading CC hosted Championships on an acknowledged deceptively tough 7.8 mile circuit near Henley on Thames – made doubly so as the heat increased through the day, peaking at 28C. All of the races were exceptionally animated and very competitive and made for a fantastic day of racing.


In the B category, 45 riders set off for 7 laps of the circuit (55 miles) and on lap 2 proceeded to set the fastest lap of the day at 18mins 50sec. Another clear winner in Malcolm Smith – St Ives CC in 2hrs 15mins, and 8 secs clear of Nigel Stephens – Finchley RT, with Simon Alexander a further second back.


As usual the B cat was the largest and fastest group with at least 30 of the 45 capable of being a medal winner including the top 10 riders from last weeks criterium championship - Paul came in ahead of all those.

Mr Consistency - Paul Caton

After the early break there were lots of counter attacks but the peleton was moving too quickly for them to stay away. Paul tried a few times himself but decided it was going to be down to a bunch sprint. This was going fine until he got trapped on the inside and could only launch 10 seconds after the everyone one else in front so had to settle for 5th in the bunch and 9th overall.


Team DS Nick Walker: "Another great result for Paul - he really is our top performer this year. To get top 10 at National level is pretty impressive but we know Paul's ambitions extend further than that."

Race Programme Available

we are still accepting entries for the Road Race on July 10 subject to availibility  - just email cyclingteam@ymail.com with the info to get your place on the sign on sheet and follow up with the standard form and payment by post.

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2nd place for Caton

top placing as Caton heads into peak form

Paul Caton rode the Lincoln Ridge 60 mile Road Race at Newark on Sunday placing 2^nd overall and 1^st in age category in this premier LVRC event. Showing some good form following wins during the week in the Gillingham and District hilly TT and at the Welwyn Wheelers track league on Friday, Caton looks to be peaking for the most important part of the season as the national track and road championships are now only weeks away.

With conditions for Sunday’s race being blustery the peloton seemed happy to let riders attack off the front without serious efforts to bring the escapees back which allowed a dangerous looking break of 8 riders forming. With Caton’s efforts to join the group being thwarted  by Team Jewson who followed his every move it looked like game over for the Hertfordshire rider.

However with two laps of the 10 mile circuit remaining, Caton noticed that a few riders had attacked off the front and were not being chased so slipping Team Jewson’s attention, he crossed the gap forming a reasonably strong group of 6 riders. Caton commented that “the riders in the group were of varying ability” but by keeping the pace steady everyone managed to contribute to try and catch the leading group who by now had a minute and a half’s lead.

Paul Caton -- top performer

The pace of this group was too high for some and after a further lap the chasers were whittled down to three. However with the lead group now starting to tire, Caton’s group caught them on a tough head wind section with 5 miles to go, and set up an interesting finish.

“With some powerful looking riders in the 11 man group I was not feeling that confident especially as my legs had been feeling tired all day,” Caton said afterwards. “and with a strong attack by one of the group in the last mile I had to wait for the final sprint.”

This turned out to be a formality for Caton who pushed his way out of a tight sprint with 150 metres to go to take an excellent result for the team.

"I'm pretty satisfied with that result," he concluded. "I just hope I can carry this form through to where I can make it count the most."