Ulverston rider David Heffernan stole an early march in the 2019 Lakeland Lanequest series, as he claimed the most points in the first event of the summer last Tuesday.

Typical Lakeland weather prevailed for the race, which took place in miserable and wet conditions from the Longlands Hotel Tewitfield. Despite the torrential rain, nearly 60 brave souls turned out for what was the first of six events.

With the best of four scores counting towards a series total, some chose to forego the event, but they missed a treat with 30 controls carefully placed by Gemma Hollis and her team within a two-hour target ridable distance of the start and finish venue.

First home in the male solo category was last year’s runner up Heffernan with a creditable score of 280 points, followed by Dave Hollingham and Robin Ellingham on 264 and 260 respectively.

Helen Jackson and Jo Cleary resumed their battle for top honours in the female solo series with Cleary, last year’s overall runner up tying with Jackson, the current champion, on 260 points. Tying for joint third with Joanne Larty was Cleary’s daughter Hannah, on 230 points.

A healthy 24 cyclists competed in the Adult Pairs class. First home was newly-paired team of David Cowgill and Henry Pemberton, on 250 points, with Rachel and Mike Toyn, sporting a new tandem on 240 points. Colin and Gillian Fell were third on 220.