IN HIS summary of the event in the results sheet of the recent 12 hour time trial organised for the 70th year by the Lancashire Road Club, organiser Jack Roughley of Westhoughton, expressed his concern for the future of this major promotion in the North West.

This year's event had attracted a record low entry of 24 and although the year 2000 edition will be on the calendar as usual, the continuation of this long-time classic will only be assured if more entries are received to justify the work of many times that number of individuals involved in its promotion.

The basic problem is that the majority of today's racing cyclists are not prepared to suffer over 12 hours as their predecessors were, but are quite happy competing over the shorter distances.

This is exampled this coming Saturday afternoon when the maximum allowable 160 riders over all categories are on the start card for a 10 mile on the fast Levens course, and 80 others have had their entries returned.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.