BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The debut of the Orbital Cycling Festival saw a host or cycle racing, not least the Brompton Eliminator, Sprint and the Brompton World Championship.
Over a quarter of the competitors were from overseas, with all racers having to don a jacket and tie for the event.
For the third time in a row time trial record holder Michael Hutchinson was fastest male (23 minutes 44 seconds over the 15.2km course). Isabel Hastie won the female category (25 minutes 24 seconds). Hastie and Hutchinson picked up a Limited Edition Barcelona Brompton for their trouble.
“As ever, we were blown away by the high level of racing shown, the dapper outfits sported and the good spirit of all the competitors," said Brompton event director Katharine Horsman. "We try to keep things fresh each year so it was nice to introduce the Brompton Eliminator, as well as a number of non-racing aspects that we had not tried before. It all seemed to go down well and I’ll never get tired of watching the Le Mans style start, organised chaos doesn’t really do it justice but certainly evokes the spirit of it.”
Susan Todzy of the USA was the female champ of the Brompton Treble, joint male winners were Gavin Morton and Antonius Wubben. Other winners included BB Bike in the Brooks team competition. Pal Singh and Stella Briggs took the Nutcase sponsored Best Dressed prize.
Aside from the racing Orbital saw a large scale Brompton art installation, created by street artist Zabou, Brompton roller racing with Rollapaluza, fastest folding competitions and the Sturmey Archer Afternoon Tea.
Brompton MD Will Butler Adams added: “We were excited to bring this event to a new venue and to get onto a circuit with such a rich history of British racing gave it a real feeling of significance. We love racing our Bromptons and showing that, if you’re up for it, these robust, well aligned, rapid bikes can perform on the race track as well as the daily commute. I am a little disappointed not to have come in the top 100 but have resolved to start a strict training schedule and lay off the biscuits, in order to come back stronger next year.”
