Location: Astwood, near Milton Keynes
Event: 10 June 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports
Avoiding a crash 200 metres from the finish, Dave Creeggan (Pedal Heaven RT) sprinted to victory in the 86-mile Neil Gardner Memorial Road Race on the Astwood circuit, near Milton Keynes.
Six riders started the climb to the finish together with Team Corley Cycles holding a numerical advantage, but a touch of wheels reduced the contenders – Roy Chamberlain one of those to go down – and left 39-year-old Creeggan to claim victory ahead of local pair Ian Knight (Team Corley Cycles) and Ashley Cox (Team Spirit).
The leaders came from an initial break of 12 riders who were joined by another eight towards the halfway point in the eight and a half-lap race on a circuit taking in North Crawley, Astwood and Chichele.
The group included four members of the Corley Cycles squad, who eventually forced the final split and had two riders in the shake-up.
“They were attacking in turn, but we stayed together and I sprinted up the hill and managed to hold them off,” said Creeggan from Ash, in Hampshire. “It’s my best win of the season and it’s all coming together now – the team has been doing really well.”
Result:
1 Dave Creeggan (Pedal Heaven RT) 3-08-00
2 Ian Knight (Team Corley Cycles)
3 Ashley Cox (Team Spirit)
4 Richard Wood (Team MK)
5 Rhys Howells (Twenty3c-Orbea)
6 Mark Baines (Spirit Racing
7 Michael Auger (Strada Sport)
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
