CYCLO-cross rider Oliver Barker has followed up his podium finish in the final round of the Yorkshire Points Series at Peel Park with a top-20 finish in the last round of the National Trophy Series.

The Shibden Cycling Club member and Bingley Grammar School pupil stayed in Bradford to come 18th in the junior men’s race at the Parkwood Outdoor Centre at Home Farm, Tong, finishing in 48 min 3.8sec.

Meanwhile, Thackley’s Eleina McFadden (Inspire Racing Adaston Scape) was 19th in the junior women’s race in 47min 16.5 sec.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Eleina McFadden earned herself a top-20 finish on home soil.Eleina McFadden earned herself a top-20 finish on home soil. (Image: Bernard Marsden.)

Back to Barker, and he was not the only Shibden Cycling Club member to make an impression at Tong.

Haworth’s Andy Peace was 10th in the final round of the National Trophy Cyclo-Cross Series at the Parkwood Outdoor Centre last weekend.

It was a fair effort from Peace, who was tested by a course that involved technical sections in forest and field at Home Farm, Tong.

The men’s over-50s race was won by former Cononley resident Ian Taylor, a team-mate of Barker and Peace’s.

Taylor also won the overall title in the six-round series and now looks forward to the National Championships this weekend at Callender Park in Falkirk.

But he is hoping that a cold will not derail his ambitions this weekend.

The Shibden Cycling Club member from Austwick took that win at Tong, and in doing so, he relegated Stuart Marshall (unattached) and Morgan Donnelly (Kendal Cycle Club) to the minor podium places at the Parkwood Outdoor Centre.

Taylor, who clinched the men’s 50-59 age group in the series with 1170 points, now heads up to Scotland for another battle with Nick Craig (SCOTT Racing), who has been concentrating on competing in the elite men’s trophy races, rather than the veterans.

The Shibden rider is not exactly at 100 per cent either, saying: “I haven’t been ill all winter and now I have a cold.

“It has made my chest congested, but hopefully I will be all right for Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Glusburn’s Cat Ferguson, whose interest is in major European races now rather than domestic, was a spectator at Tong on Sunday, opting out of racing in order to manage her increasingly crowded schedule.