Olympian in the saddle at Pontefract’s first grand prix

Professional riders, men, women and children all turned out to take part in Sunday’s event, which was attended by around 1,000 cyclists and spectators.

Harry Tanfield, 19, took top spot in the elite men’s race while Jacob Trotter, from Squadra RT, was first home in the men’s support race. Melissa Lowther, from the Matrix Prendas RT, won the women’s race. Dinnington rider Liam Hindmarsh and Jayti Hine came first in the under 16s girls and boys section and Jack Ford and Anna Docherty rode home in the boys and girls under 14s youth ride.

The event was run in partnership with British Cycling, the Haribo Beacon Cycling team and Wakefield Council.

Event organiser Ashley Brown, from the Haribo team, said: “The event was a great success. We only started planning in May so we were really pleased with it. We didn’t have as many people take part in the family cycle around the course as we’d hoped but it was raining very heavily. We had hundreds turn up to watch the cyclists and take part in the races though so that was good news.

“We are definitely going to look at organising a second Pontefract Grand Prix next year. We had great support from Wakefield Council, the Haribo Beacon Cycling team and local cycling club BBM Revolution to make the event possible, with additional support from Amey and DM Keith Skoda.”

Visit www.pontefractandcastlefordexpress for more pictures from the event.