Podium places for fledgling RLS team

Michelle Paget shook off a cold to post an excellent fifth position in sport ladies, with Caroline Ditum coming in ninth. The third member of the ladies’ squad, Natasha Noir, was unable to race after a crash in training.

The men’s contingent gained a creditable 17th from Nick Thornton in the five laps of very competitive expert racing, while Jonathan May lapped within a second a lap of Thornton to take 57th in the four-lap sport race.

Wearing borrowed ladies’ shoes, Simon Bayliss produced a storming first lap before a failure of his suspension forks put an end to his race.

In his first veterans’ outing, Dave Newton completed his four laps in 1hr 35 min to capture 48th place, while his daughter Emily got the team’s only podium of the day with a second place in the under-eight category.

Three RLS members headed to Sheffield’s Wharncliffe Woods, the home of UK downhill legend Steve Peat.

This was the site of the Urban X Mini Downhill series, gravity-assisted racing on muddy, tree root lined terrain.

Clare Curtis showed the men how it is done by taking second place in the ladies’ event.

Also managing a podium position was Malc Dunn, who came third in the masters, with his son Ryan matching him at junior level.

The team continue to train at the Bikeyard in Leamington on Wednesday nights and also have a much more sociable ride on Thursday evenings at 6.30pm.

Pop into store for further information or log on to the RLS XC Facebook page.