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."