The promoting club’s Richard Bideau and Karen Poole of Sportstest RT were the fastest male and female riders at the 2018 Circuit of Ingleborough, staged by the Pendle Forest CC on Saturday.

Third last year, 47-year-old Bideau from Burnley covered the challenging course in a personal best time of 1:03.13. That gave him the win by just over two minutes from Preston CC’s Matt Moorhouse, while former winner and course recorder Gethin Butler (Preston Wheelers) was third.

Meanwhile, in the women’s event Karen Poole, 41 and from near Huddersfield, clocked 1:21.13 to win by just over one minute from Ilkley CC’s Hannah Benson.

Course record holder James Gullen, the JLT Condor pro from Leeds who now lives in Lancaster, had entered and was expected to make another challenge for the course record he set in 2017. However, he was struck down with a virus in the week leading up to the event, and chose not to ride this time.

Conditions were good if a little damp early on, but there was only a light breeze.

The course itself takes riders on an anti-clockwise triangle, starting near Ingleton and heading south east along minor roads before joining the A65 for a time.

It then turns off onto minor roads again and continues down to the fringes of Settle, turning left near Giggleswick and heading up through Horton in Ribblesdale to Ribblehead, where it turns left again along the B6255 and back down to a finish on Hawes Road just outside Ingleton.

In other categories, the over-40s winner– under the ‘one rider one prize rule – was Sean Owens of Croston Velo. He clocked 1-11-16 to win by just 23 seconds from GS Metro’s Ben Lane, with Jonny Hill (Barrow Central Wheelers) third, just 11 seconds further back.

Preston Wheelers’ Paul Fleming covered the course in 1-10-17 to win the over-50s prize by more than three minutes from Stewart Gregory (Nottingham Clarion) while Martin Welsh (Pendle Forest CC) was third.

Border City Wheelers’ Carol Westmorland won the over-40 women’s prize with a time of 1-27-20, while Jan Scotchford (North Lancashire Road Club) clocked 1-29-31 and was top over-50 female.

Roy Flanagan (Rossendale Road Club) was fastest in the over-60s category with 1-17-05, while top junior was Otley CC’s Joe Howcroft who clocked 1-11-05. And not far behind was Archie Irving (Beacon Wheelers) who covered the course in 1-12-22.

The team prize went to the promoting Pendle Forest CC, with Richard Bideau being joined in the winning trio by James Atkinson and Martin Welsh, their total time of 3-29-58 being more than 15 minutes quicker than second-placed team North Lancashire Road Club.

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission.

* A full gallery of images from the Circuit of Pendle by Kimroy Photography is available here