VETERAN Paul Barratt, of McKinlays 1st Chard Wheelers, finished a brilliant third in British cycling’s Over-50s national championships at the weekend.

The 64 mile race near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire was a hotly contested event.

Barratt made several attacks during the race and finally got in a five man breakaway for the last ten miles.

A challenging uphill sprint finish saw Barratt claim his podium spot after finishing just a couple of bike lengths behind the winner.

Immediately after the race he said: “I’m just pleased to get some reward after all the training and racing.”

Two other Chard Wheelers, youth track riders Joe West (Under-14) and Emily Attfield (Under-16), are both on the brink of qualifying for the national track Omnium finals in Manchester.

They both just need to finish in the top five in the last round of regional qualifiers at Bournemouth this weekend.

Both finished third in the second round at Reading with Attfield missing second place by only a single point.

Sunday saw the first running of the Hamoon Gold Rush – a series of Criterium-style races around Shaftesbury town centre as part of the town’s festival.

The cycle racing attracted good size, quality fields and a good number of enthusiastic spectators.

Max Taylor rode away from the front of the Under-10 race to win by a huge margin and lapped most of the field in the process.

Ryan White claimed an emphatic victory in the Under-16 race while in the Men’s category 4 race Mark Hughes was all set for his first top ten finish and ranking points only to be held up by a crash and finish 11th.

Junior rider Rob Hogg took another top ten placing in the E12 race against a quality field.