Keith Henderson succesfully defended his title in this year's event in the Smithfield Nocture.

Photos here

Full result here

 Click read more for the report.

I have to say, it was a very different race to last year - the man in black on the pink Rapha-labelled Brompton had just come from winning the Edinburgh Nocturne 2 weeks before.  He's Graeme from Rapha, and his Brompton was signed by Bradley Wiggins!  I'd been warned by a mate of mine who knows him that I had a race on my hands.

However, it wasn't just him I had to worry about, the standard this year was so much higher and the final was raced at a very high pace.  Evidence of this is that last years 2nd place man came home in 12th having stayed in the leading pack during the race.

The organisers did a great job this year with very clear rules on which bikes were permitted and strict rules on folding - all bikes had to be completely folded as per the manufacturers instructions prior to the Le Mans style start.  The final was increased this year from 30 riders to 40, which made the dash to the bikes pretty treacherous with elbows flying everywhere. Not that anyone was taking it seriously of course!

I had a fairly good start, but had to chase down a rider who'd opened up a clear lead after being first to assemble his bike, but in doing so, I was quickly followed by the chasing pack.  'Rapha Man' soon came through to take the lead, and before I knew it having had the door firmly shut in my face on a corner, I was back in 6th or 7th place on lap two. 

It was obvious that either no-one was willing to, or able to take the lead from 'Rapha Man' as he seemed to be doing a great job of providing everyone else with a decent wind break on the back straight on each lap.  After fighting my way back up to second on the last lap, I decided my best option was to sprint from an earlier position than might have been expected - so half way down the back straight I made a break for it which thankfully paid off!  Hat's off to Graeme and the others for a seriously hard fought race though - cheers!  Not sure if I'll be back next year yet - I may enter the team event with a few colleagues instead.  Although, I could be persuaded to go for the hatrick!

Apparently out of 80 riders entered in the heats this year, 55 of them were riding Bromptons.  There were only 4 Dahons in the final, so I'm pretty pleased that a Dahon came out on top again.

Cheers,

Keith