HALESOWEN Academy were well represented in the combined West and East Midlands Junior cycling championships held in Stone at the weekend.

Five of the team took part with Henry Lloyd-Langston manoeuvring himself into a four-rider break after about 12 miles.

The move stayed clear for the rest of the race with his team-mates Josh Field and David Hird monitoring the chasing pack. In the final miles the lead quartet was delayed by an accident to a vehicle not involved in the race, but after negotiating that safely the race came down to a four-rider sprint in which Lloyd-Langston finished third. With the first two riders both being from the East Midlands, Henry took the West Midlands title.

Elsewhere, Halesowen Cycling Club members are delighted to hear second claim member, Simon Dighton, has gained a place in the world age related time trial championships to be held in Poland this August in the qualifying event held on Saturday.

Needing a top 10 finish Simon completed the 16.5 mile qualification rolling course near Peterborough in exactly 39 minutes to take ninth spot and looks forward to representing GB later this year.

Meanwhile support for a velodrome in the West Midlands gathers pace with the presentation of a petition to the Birmingham mayor Andy Street. With the support of local MPs, James Morris, Ian Austin and Mike Wood and over 7,000 supporters of the petition the project continues its momentum to give the Midlands the type of cycling facilities available elsewhere in the UK.