NEWS FOR NOVEMBER 2003

| NEWS CENTRE | RESULTS CENTRE | FREE CLASSIFIEDS |

Life Repair Cycle Racing Team

Administrators Begbies Traynor have been appointed to the Life Repair Group (main sponsor of Life Repair Cycle Racing Team during 2002-2003) last week (formerly The Compensation Group). This unexpected and unfortunate turn of events came about due to the turbulent times facing the personnel injury claim business in the current economic climate. Following the recent demise of two of the major players in this sector � Claims Direct and The Accident Group � there has been a change in the sentiment of funding banks.

This has resulted in the Life Repair Group�s underwriters withdrawing funding, which ultimately, following extensive talks with other funders failed to deliver the money required to pay the November wage bill. Along with the loss of funding for the cycle team, Life Repair Group employed over 200 people in the north of England who have been made redundant.

The managing director and ex-international cycle racer Tim Schools stated, �We had a viable business which we believed had good future prospects. Unfortunately when funding was withdrawn we were unable to continue�. Tim went on to say, �All the directors are very saddened about the turn of events and would like to thank the staff for their commitment and support. We will now be co-operating with the administrator to try to structure a business rescue with a view to continue trading in the future�.

Concerning the cycle racing team, Tim continued, he was very sorry that the support of Life Repair Group has had to be withdrawn prematurely and thanked the riders and support staff for their professionalism and dedication to their chosen sport; along with the excellent string of results that had firmly established them as the number one team in the UK over the last two years. He sincerely hopes a replacement sponsor can be found before the start of the 2004 season to enable the team to remain together and realise its full potential through 2004 and beyond.

Team Director, Phil Leigh added �It has come at a bad time when we are due to register the team for UCI Div III status for 2004 and finalise rider contracts. We have strong support from our existing product sponsors and would like to thank them for standing by us during this difficult period. Additionally, an extensive road programme is in place including some European stage races."

"It would be very easy to pull the plug and call it a day, but we strongly believe we have established a sound infrastructure to move forward with, along with a fantastic set of riders. With this in mind I want to give it until the end of 2003 to find replacement sponsor(s). I spent the weekend at a cycling dinner and on a couple of local club runs; this along with the numerous phone calls I have received makes me realise that the core membership of British Cycling is 100% behind the team and would be very sad to see its demise."

"At this moment (30th Nov) we have one possible secondary sponsor and I have people working on finding further sponsors as this goes to press. On behalf of the riders and personnel, I would like to invite anyone who may know of any company who may wish to be involved in the UK�s most successful road team of recent years to contact me by any or all of the following means, thank you�. The situation regarding the future of the team will be updated on the team website during December.

Dr Phil Leigh
Team Director
Fern Cottage
Chapel Lane
Ellel
Lancaster
LA2 0PW
United Kingdom

Tel/Fax: ++44 (0)1524 752845
Mobile: ++44 (0)794 7071278
Email: p.leigh@lancaster.ac.uk
Website: http://www.liferepairteam.co.uk