CYLING: 85th British Cycling title for veteran Ives

Baginton’s veteran racing cyclist, 77-year-old Mick Ives, who races for Team Jewson/MI Racing/Polypipe team won his 85th British Cycling Championship on Sunday.

In the company of 75-year-old Murray Kirton he won the Veteran Time Trial Association National 25-mile Tandem Championships, setting a new age related record for the distance in the process.

“Times were slow for all competitors due to very strong winds and very wet and slippery conditions,” he said. “This made the course, which included 12 roundabouts, especially difficult at times. On the long inclines into the wind, speeds were down to 18mph but on the return leg using a top gear of 56x11 we were hitting 35mph,” said Ives. “We had to take great care on the roundabouts, which were tricky enough for the solo riders, but much worse for tandems.”

Ives claims to have won more British Cycling Championships over a 60-year racing career than any other British rider, encompassing road racing, time trials, hill climbs, cyclo cross, mountain bikes and tandems - a claim which seems hard to dispell.

This is his third VTTA National Tandem success, having won the 10-mile Championship with Jack Watson and the 30-mile Championship with Vic Haines several years earlier.

This latest championship makes a total of eight British Championships won so far this season by the Coventry-based Team.

Recent addition to the Team Jewson/MI Racing/Polypipe squad, 52-year-old Mark Wise from Leamington Spa, recorded a brilliant 58 mins 48 secs in the same event.

British Cycling Veteran Circuit Champion Rob O’Connor, who lives in Rugby, competed in the TLI National Road Race Championships held over 65 miles in North Cheshire and claimed fourth place, having missed a late attack by three riders who finished just clear of the chasers. This season in four national championships O’Connor has an enviable record of one win, one runner-up and two fourth places.

Coventry Olympic Group Sportive - the non-competitive section of MI Racing - organised three Sportive cycle rides from Baginton, out into South Warwickshire and the North Cotswolds, which attracted over 70 riders, including members of the MI Racing Academy. The funds raised will go to Myton Hospice, Zoe’s Place and Baginton Lions Junior Football Team. It is hoped to repeat the rides next season.