Cycling: The East Lancashire Road Club 150 mile in 12 hours Reliability Ride

Shaun Leonard in Nelson Wheelers 10m TT

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The East Lancashire Road Club 150 mile in 12 hours Reliability Ride, which is one of the longest rides in the season long Best All Rounder Competition, took place on Sunday.

The route goes to Hebden Bridge, Keighley, Bolton Abbey, Kettlewell, Wensleydale and up to Hawes, back up to the Ribblehead Viaduct, Settle, Whalley and finally through Accrington, Bury and back to Rochdale.

It was a windy day but the riders set off at 6am full of optimism, however just past Hebden Bridge two riders turned around due to mechanical troubles and illness. At Kettlewell a further two had to quit and at Ribblehead viaduct three more riders couldn’t last the course. This left a much-reduced group comprising Gareth Snell, Darryl Nolan, Wally Stansfield, Shaun Donnelly, Roy Neild, and 16-year-old Jack Millar to complete the ride within the time limit.

Elsewhere, time trials carried on in abundance with East Lancs Riders competing in differing events.

The ride of the weekend was put in by Shaun Leonard, whose season is getting better with each ride. Leonard rode in the Nelson Wheelers 10-mile TT on Saturday - on the Clitheroe Bypass - and he recorded a course personal best of 24:52 minutes.

Oliver Huszar continued his good form in the circuit races by winning the E/1/2 race at Colne on Thursday with a break away on the last lap. The bunch were all looking at one another to see who would take up the chase, by which time Huszar has escaped for a fine win.

East Lancs hired the Manchester Velodrome on Monday evening for a private two-hour session coached by British Cycling’s Paul West.

A club spokesperson said: "It was great evening comprising various races and brilliant to see so many of the club’s youth riders doing so well beating many senior riders in the process."