With 600 starters of the 750 registered riders, the 5th Brompton World Championships was the main highlight of this year's rain affected Breast Cancer Care Bike Blenheim Palace.
Held on a wet and breezy Sunday in the grounds of Oxfordshire's famous palace, the Brompton Worlds attracted teams from an impressive 34 countries, with the UK, Spain and the Netherlands well represented.
The race featured a LeMans style start, with all 600 riders having to run to their bikes and then do two laps of the rolling 6.5km circuit. The competition was fierce but in the end it was Liam Curran (Northern Ireland) who completed the course in the fastest time in an impressive 22'52, winning himself a Brompton S6L-X for his efforts. He was closely followed by two Spanish riders from the loudly attired Caproblema team, Pau Milla Canals (22'58) and Marcel Batlle Giró (22'59), who also were part of the wnning team.
The best female rider was Rachel Elliot, who completed the two laps in 25'27 to also win a brand new claret coloured Brompton S6L-X. She finished ahead of Spaniard Mercè Pacios (25'59) with Charlotte Barnes taking third in 26'42.
Best dressed male, Ian Harvey
There were also prizes for different cateogries such as best dressed and fastest to fully fold a Brompton. Ian Harvey's Joker costume won him best dressed male while Mary Till's racier jacket plus stockings and heels won her best dressed female. Koos Kroon, who runs the BikeTech shop in Spain, managed to fold a Brompton in just 9.2 seconds, quicker than anyone else on the day.
Want more? Here's some helmet cam video posted on YouTube by one of the riders.
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Full results of the 2010 Brompton World Championships can be found here. A report from the time trial can be found here.