By DAVID COULTER

Published at 09:11, Monday, 02 July 2012

THE prestigious Beaumont Trophy will once again bring Britain’s best cyclists to Stamfordham this weekend.

Celebrating its 60th year, the competition will take place on Tynedale’s roads on Sunday as the top road riders and teams fight it out for the silverware.

Over the years, the Beaumont race has seen numerous high profile winners, including triple Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins who won the National Road Race Championships at the race last year.

Also included in the prestigious roll of honour is Chris Newton, Russell Downing, Malcolm Elliot, Don Sanderson and Ray Wetherill.

The trophy is part of the 2012 British Cycling Premier Calendar and will be a fitting finale for the Virgin Money Cyclone Festival of Cycling that runs from Thursday to Sunday.

This year’s Premier Calendar has so far been dominated by the Endura Racing Team.

But the other top domestic teams, Team Raleigh-GAC, IG Sigma Sport, Team UK Youth and Node4-Giordana won’t be letting them have it all their own way.

The race starts and finishes in Stamfordham, getting underway at 1pm with three laps of a 22.3 mile circuit that will see the riders tackle the challenging climb of the Ryals before moving onto three laps of the 13.9 mile finishing circuit.

Earlier on in the day, the Curlew Cup will make its debut as part of the British Cycling Women’s National Road Series.

The event, sponsored by Northumberland National Park, attracts some of the best riders in the country and uses the same course which hosted the successful 2011 Women’s National Road Race Championships.

The Curlew Cup race starts at 9.30am and will be contested over four laps of a 13.9 mile circuit that includes passing through Ingoe and Matfen, before finishing in Stamfordham.

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk