THERE may not be a round of next season’s National Trophy Series nor the National Championships earmarked for Peel Park next winter.

But that doesn’t mean it is the end of cyclo-cross at the well-known Bradford venue as some people were thinking when it staged the fifth round of the National Trophy Series at the weekend – far from it.

The North of England Championships are already earmarked for the course on Sunday, December 2 next year, while West Yorkshire cyclo-cross bedfellows Bradford Council are keen to stage a round of the World Cup there in the near future – after Yorkshire have staged the World Road Race Championships in 2019.

Fred Rothwell, organiser of the National Trophy event at Bradford on Sunday, said: “The event was a continuation of successful cyclo-cross in Peel Park.

“And while the North of England Championships are a step down from the National Trophy, I would be surprised if Peel Park doesn’t stage another National Championships in the near future, while it is possible that a World Cup event might be staged there as early as 2020.

“If that were to happen, there could be a crowd of 15,000 in Peel Park as folk in Yorkshire will turn up to watch anyone put their leg over a bike.

“Milton Keynes only got about 8,000-9,000 when they staged a round of the World Cup in 2014.

“As far as I am concerned, there will always be cyclo-cross at Peel Park because it is such a great venue.

“It is the only venue in the country where you can watch the whole race from one vantage point.”

Yorkshire are always granted a round of the National Trophy Series, and that will go to the Yorksport venue next winter.

“They are very keen to stage some events,” explained Rothwell.

With heavy snow forecast the previous night, some wondered whether the National Trophy event would go ahead at Peel Park yesterday.

But Rothwell said: “It takes a lot to put a cyclo-cross event off, and it is a winter sport, which some of the contestants who were moaning to me before travelling seem to forget.

“John Rawnsley (former event organiser) and myself have been to events abroad where it has been minus ten degrees or when you literally couldn’t stand up on the sidelines, and the races have still been held.

“Also I can remember standing in a marquee that was nearly big enough to stage a full-size football match, and the condensation created by thousands of people was rising into the roof of the marquee and falling back down as snow!”

As it happened, the worst that Peel Park had to put up with at the weekend was nought degrees and a few snow flurries as the bad weather made it no further north than the Midlands.