A very unusual turn of events in this region saw the Lakeland Cycling Club part of a national social media story as they had to cancel their league road race due to ‘melting roads’.

In a twist we never thought we would see, an inspection of the Lady of the Lake road race circuit on Tuesday evening last revealed large sections of tar pulled up due to the high temperatures.

And with the predictions (which proved correct) even higher for the Wednesday evening the race committee took the decision to cancel the race due to concerns over rider safety on the dangerous road surface.

Not an easy decision to take given the commitment of volunteers within the club and the plans of a large contingent of regional cyclists planning to make the journey to race on a beautiful evening. But in retrospect, the correct one, as Wednesdays temperatures hit 30 Celsius and the road was in no fit state to hold a competitive event.

All was not lost for the club mind you, as the Ulster race calendar continued with both the Hugo Loughran GP and Foyle GP on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon respectively.

Danny Browne, Nigel Foster and Stephen Campbell all finished in the bunch Sprint on Friday evening in the A4 event, just missing out on top ten places, but Seamus McGovern placed seventh in a highly competitive A3 event, which began is points tally for an upgrade to A2.

On Sunday, at the Foyle GP the club had another successful day. McGovern again performed extremely well in the A3 event taking more points in eighth place, but the story of the day was another fantastic second for Rory Gamble in the A4 event, securing his upgrade to A3 in just his first season racing.

This young rider has a great future ahead of him after his conversion from rowing, and the club hope to see him well supported as he tackles the A3 race programme.

The Club calendar continues this Wednesday evening with riders tackling the Sion Finn circuit. A hilly race that will suit the climbers at the tail end of the season, and with temperatures predictably much lower, the heat will be on within the peloton to break away over the Murley climb.