Marches 3-day presented by Discover Parks

One of the few 3-day races on the UK calendar, the West Midlands marquee event took on a new dimension this year with sponsorship from Discover Parks, a business that runs 3 holiday parks local to the race’s main base at Presteigne, just over the Welsh border. Branded up bottles for each rider isn’t normal in UK races, but it may be just the beginning…

Stage one was 107km on the Inkberrow circuit, and was dominated by a break that was composed of three riders from the Patrick Schils team, Matt Warhurst, Patrick Clark and Eugene Cross – last year’s unlucky yellow jersey wearer – with Dan Ascroft from Halesowen. In spite of some strong chase efforts out of the bunch, the quartet stayed clear for most of the stage, gaining well over a minute, and although, Ascroft and Cross all faded late in the stage, Clarke and Warhurst hung on ahead of a fast chasing bunch at the Cookhill finish.

Stage two was on a new time trial course over 7.3km, starting in Presteigne and finishing outside the Discover Parks site at Shobdon after a tricky little climb, and Clark showed his strength here taking his second stage win out of two ahead of James Bacon (TAAP-Kalas) and Tom Herbert (Bridgnorth), with less than 4sec separating the trio. On to stage three on the Presteigne-Shobdon circuit, but that didn’t last long, with a serious crash putting a rider in hospital, leaving the race without medical cover.

All of which meant there was a lot to play four on the final stage on Bank Holiday Monday, 101km over four laps of the Presteigne-Kington circuit plus the run-out to the iconic summit finish on Offa’s Dyke, with Halesowen and Bridgnorth both determined to take the fight to Schils. The upshot was a five-rider move including both Luke Mannings of Halesowen – who had started the stage fifth overall – and Bridgnorth’s Sean Dawson.

Unfortunately, they had Warhurst for company, and while their lead fluctuated around the minute mark, Warhurst was understandably sticking to team orders and was sitting on, while behind Patrick Fotheringham, Rowan Baxter, Isaak Herbert and Cross were doing a fine job keeping the bunch just within reach. The race never quite came back together, although on the final climb to Offa’s Dyke the peloton overhauled all bar Warhurst, who took the stage, with Clark escaping the rest to take second and secure the overall win. That sealed a dominant race for the Essex-based team: all three stages, first two overall and the team prize.

Massive thanks to Discover Parks for their support, and to the 70 volunteers who made this race happen.

Pics by Dave Dodge/ Pelotonpix