ILKLEY Town Centre Races will be attracting some of the country’s top talent to the town on Friday 30 June.

Among starters will be local professional Matthew Fox, just back from career-defining wins in Ireland’s Rás Tailteann stage race. The Elite Men’s Race, in which Fox is hoping to add to two Irish first place finishes, and winning the coveted “Points Classification,” starts at 8:30pm.

Fox races for the Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli team. Wheelbase is a national bicycle retailer with a large shop in Ilkley managed by local former pro, Bernie Berns.

Discussion his inclusion in the race, Fox said: “I jumped at the chance to race locally, both to support my sponsor and for the opportunity to be cheered on by friends and family.”

The first of five races start at 5:30pm sharp. There will be a carnival-like atmosphere along The Grove in Ilkley, which serves as the start/finish straight.

In addition to popular restaurants and pubs on The Grove, there are food and drink stands where spectators can catch all the action. Lishman’s will once again be serving their popular sausages and burgers.

Ilkley Brewery will be out with their fan-favourite Mary Jane session ale. From 6pm until 7, BBC Radio Leeds’ Friday evening sports program will be live from their broadcast van on The Grove. On the sporting side: - the the MAS Design Under 16s Race kicks the races off at 5:30pm. This is for the youngest racers – both girls and boys.

Next up, at 6pm, is the first Women’s Race. These are serious competitors who are working their way up cycling’s strict ladder of experience. Ilkley Town Centre Races, June 30, 2023, continued - At 6:40 the mood will get a little more sombre, as the Ilkley Cycle Club Men’s Race get the gun.

What follows is 40+ minutes of controlled chaos as Category 2, 3, and 4 racers torture themselves around the tight one-mile circuit. The light should be softening by the time the Elite Women’s Race begins at 7:30pm. There will be professional racers mixed in with the top-ranked amateurs, including the Nation’s newly crowned Woman’s Road Race Champion.

The night’s final race is the big one for pros like Fox, the Elite Men’s Lister Horsfall Grand Prix, as the Ilkley Town Centre Races are on British Cycling’s National Point’s Calendar and professionals will be out in force to grab what points they can for national recognition.

This race is an hour of beautiful agony – beautiful for spectators, agony for the riders. Once the racing is done, spectators are encouraged to crowd the platform set up on The Grove to watch the winners in each race accept their trophies and winnings.

The prize money includes £2100 for the Elite Racers, both men and women – cycling being one of the few sports where equal rewards for woman are becoming the norm. Ilkley Cycling Club organises the Races and invites everyone, even those who are sceptical of cycling or these types of events in town to come out and experience the vibrancy of the Event.

The Ilkley Cycling Club and Town Centre Races are an annual event, and they coincide with the beginning of summer celebrations of cycling. The Ilkley Town Centre Races is an integral event in the British Cycling’s National Points Series. The top three finishers receive points that accumulate to the annual national points championship.