The talking point of the three-day Isle of Man Youth and Junior Youth Tour last weekend was undoubtedly the weather.
It all started nice enough for the short time trials on Douglas Promenade on Friday evening, but Saturday and much of Sunday was a washout for the road events.
Saturday morning’s 92.6 kilometre road race in the west of the island for the junior men had hardly got underway when the rain set in.
By mid-distance it was pretty grim with light showers and strong head winds on the Poortown section.
Most of the riders had donned normal springtime clothing, many with short-sleeved tops and shorts, so they soon became extremely cold in what was a near-three hour race.
An initial break of two grew to a more workmanlike five after 20 miles and extended their lead to a couple of minutes as the rain set in.
Unfortunately, none of the four Team Isle of Man riders managed to get into the break, nor did on-form Nathan Draper. But he was riding for RST Racing and, with team-mate Joey Walker away in the break, the Tromode teenager was happy enough to sit at the head of the bunch for a while and nullify any attempts to get across - not that many were brave enough in the worsening conditions.
Draper dropped out of the bunch for a while after suffering a puncture, but the Team Isle of Man quartet of Matty Bostock, Owen Dudley, Nathan Hinks and Michael Moss worked hard to maintain the pace and hope that the breakaway men might tire and get dragged back into the peleton.
But, with lead man Bostock below par after suffering a virus on the week leading up to the event, any hopes of gaining a result looked pretty slim.
Ultimately, Charlie Quarterman of Zappi’s Racing Team got away relatively unmarked - showing strong form after a three-week team training camp in the Algarve.
He made the 11th and final ascent of the Switchback to the finish line at the Staarvey junction with a winning margin of 1min 12sec over Gabriel Evans of Catford CC, who managed to see off Peter Kibble (Velcity Globalbike), Louis Modell (Catford) and Draper’s buddy Walker on the final climb.
The somewhat wet and bedraggled main bunch came in a couple of minutes down containing Draper and Bostock - the latter with a bit of a headache after being hit on the head by a plastic drinks bottle held out to another rider at a feeding station.
Moss retired after nine laps, Hinks after 10 and Dudley with one to go. He was one of at least half a dozen riders to be treated for what was the early stages of hypothermia.
If anything, conditions were even worse for the youth races on the undulating Ellerslie course after lunch. The organisers wisely decided to scrap the descents for the youngest classes and ran a combined A and B race over a reduced distances over the full course for both sexes.
Team RL360’s Conor Davies and Will Draper, fresh their superb first and second places in the previous Sunday’s Nick Corkill Memorial Road Race, were both well-placed throughout in the Boys’ A Race, together with Daniel Scarffe and Thomas Bostock.
A cow reportedly got onto the closed roads at one point, causing quite a bit of disruption in the peleton, but the finish came to a fine uphill sprint from
Specialized Race Team’s Daniel Tullett who just managed to edge in front of Davies at the line. Scarffe rode well for eighth.
Ben Tulett of Beeline Bicycles RT won the B race in which Adam Scarffe was the best local in sixth.
Jessica Roberts (RST Racing) won the Girls A race with a strong ride, beating Ellie Russell (Sportcity Velo) on the third and last climb.
But there was a tremendous ride from Amelia Sharpe (Team RL360) fo grab an excellent second place in the Girls B race, best local girl overall in teh combined A/B field. Eleanor Davies also rode well to finish 12th overall (10th in the A race).
Conditions on Sunday morning were equally poor for the junior boys, with more heavy rain and strong winds. The race was delayed 30 minutes but when it did get underway Matty Bostock and Nathan Draper attacked at Dog Mills on lap two of the Tour of the North course and got a gap of about 40 seconds, but on the Burma Road when Bostock tried to push on he simply wasn’t well enough so he sat up and rolled into Ramsey to retire.
Draper went back into the lead group and went on to finish seventh, with team-mate Walker again up ahead. Joe Holt of County Cycles RT won a tight sprint finish in improving conditions on Ramsey’s Mooragh Promenade from Ethan Hayter (VC Londres) and Marcus Burnett (Corley Cycles). Owen Dudley recovered well from his Saturday exploits to finish ninth, with Michael Moss also going well for 12th.
Rhys Britton (Bush Healthcare) won a big bunch sprint finish to the A race confined to the promenade area, with Conor Davies, Jimmy Bostock, Will Draper, Dan Scarffe and Adam Kelly all close behind.
Eleanor Davies had a cracking ride to grab fourth in the Girls A race again won by the dominant Jessica Roberts.
Better still, Amelia Sharpe won the B race in a six-rider sprint finish to round off an excellent weekend for her.
In the younger classes, Mairi Harrison rode well in Girls Youth D while Fearne Bregazzi bossed the smallest field of the tour in Youth E.
Cian Howard did likewsie with some impressive rides in the equivalent boys class, beating local rival Orry Lund by more than one minute on GC.
Ivan Sorby produced some determined rides in Youth D to finish runner-up overall to Jed Smithson of Hillingdon, with Niall Colquitt solid in fifth.
Zac Walker and Tyler Hannay finished in the top-10 in the highly competitive Youth C class. The Manx duo were separated by nine seconds after three days of tough competition.