Sunday 29th April 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the last remaining Clarion House at Newchurch in Pendle.
The CTC has had a close association with the Clarion Clubs for many years. The Clarion House at Newchurch is staffed by volunteers, several of whom are also members of Burnley and Pendle CTC.
Burnley and Pendle CTC have used the Clarion House as a venue for previous celebrations such as the 80th Anniversary of our club back in June 2007.
We decided that we would mark the Centenary of the Clarion House by providing three guided rides, Long, Short and Extra Short, each of which would call at the venue.
Unfortuneatley the weather on the day was absolutley horrendous with very strong and cold blustery wind and torrential rain. Not surprisingly, in the circumstances, the turn out on the rides was rather low. One rider from the Extra Short and two from the short ride made it to the Clarion House, and headed straight for the open fire to dry out. The riders on the long ride didn't make it back to the Clarion, having decided to cut their ride short and head home. We were joined at the Clarion by one of our members who had walked there and two couples that had driven their. The majority of the other visitors had intended to mark the occassion by walking from nearby locations such as Barley, but due to the weather conditions had ended up catching the bus instead.
After a couple of hours drying out and several large mugs of tea while chatting to the other attendees, I put my not so waterproof layers back on for the short ride back to Burnley, at least I had the wind behind me for this last stretch. By John Ramsden. Photo by Andrew Walsh.
Burnley and Pendle CTC, again provided marshalls for this annual town centre cycle race, which attracts a contribution from Pennine Events towards our club funds.
This year the event, which is part of the Pendle Cycle Festival, began with a light hearted two lap race on Raleigh Chopper bikes, with a Le Mans style start. The field included British Cycling President Brian Cookson, and the eventual winner and former British National Road Race Champion Rob Hayles.
The support race was won by Gary Adamsom (Team SIS) in a bunch sprint, ahead of Robert Watson (RVO Racing) and Chris Lawless (Maxgear RT).
The main event, the Elite Race, was filmed by Sky sports, and featured an early attack from local rider Ian Wilkinson (Endura), who ended up in 5thplace. Another local rider, olympic bronze medallist, Steven Burke (Team UK Youth) was to finsh 6th. However the final laps of the race were to be dominated by the Rapha Condor Sharp team, with olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy winning the race, ahead of team mates Dean Downing, Dean Wilson and Graham Briggs.
Wednesday 14th July 2010 saw the annual town center cycle race.
Burnley and Pendle CTC provided marshalls for the event, which attracts a contribution towards our club funds.
A large crowd braved the dark clouds, flashes of lightening and showers to watch this annual event.
The main race was Round 5 of the Elite Circuit Series, were a 70 strong field raced for an hour around the tight 800 metre circuit. The race was won by Dean Downing (Rapha Condor Sharp) ahead of local Barnoldswick rider Ian Wilkinson (Endura Racing) and Olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy (Motorpoint Marshals Pasta). Other local riders included Colne's Olympic bronze medallist Steven Burke and Trawden rider Paul Oldham.
A field of 55 riders had lined up earlier in the evening, for the Regional B Support Race, where the enthusiastic crowd saw a big bunch sprint for the finish, after 45 minutes of racing, which was won by Bill Nickson (Bill Nickson Cycles) ahead of James Notley (Team Goldtec) and Ashley Marshall (VS Cycles).
The National Road Cycle Championships 2010, came to the village of Barley for a weekend of events.
Saturday 26thJune saw the National Sportive take place starting and finishing in Barley village. The mens and womens National Road Race Championships were held on Sunday 27th June. On both days there was a spectators village with various stalls and exhibitors, which included our small stand publizing both the National CTC and our local Burnley & Pendle CTC member group.
Unfortunatley the woman's race was interupted by an horrendous crash, in the bunch, on the first 50mph descent. Riders that had been dropped on the first climb, and were trying to catch up, then crashed into the back of the team cars which were stopped behind the original crash. The race was delayed for over an hour, as ambulance crews treated the injured.
When the race did re-start Emma Pooley attacked straight away, on the first climb, and was joined by Nicole Cooke, and then Pooley's Cervelo team mates Lizzie Armistead and Sharon Laws. Nicole Cooke was the current champion, having won the title 10 times including the previous 9 years in a row. Emma Pooley had finished 2nd in 2008 and 3rd in 2009 behind Lizzie Armistead. After a series of attacks from both Pooley and Cooke, Pooley managed to break clear close to the finish, with Lizzie Armistead pipping Cooke to 2nd place.
A strong field lined up for the mens race, with several riders including Mark Cavandish, David Millar and Geraint Thomas due to compete in the Tour de France the following week.
Following a couple of early breaks, the decisive attack came toward the end of lap 5, with thr remainder of the 180km (120 mile) race being dominated by three riders from the Sky Procycling team, Geraint Thomas, Peter Kennaugh & Ian Stannard.
Kennaugh was unable to shake off Thomas on the final climb, and was outsprinted by Thomas at the finish. This was the first road race National title for Geraint Thomas, who had finished 3rd back in 2006. Peter Kennaugh had finished in 2nd place for the third year running. Defending Champion Kristian House could only finish in twelth place, 1 lap and over 18 minutes behind.
