Three velo riders travelled across the channel to ride the Paris Roubaix challenge, this year taking in 145km and 19 sectors of fearsome cobbles.

Debutante Matt Nunn completed the event in five and a half hours, whilst Steve Smith and Phil Booth came in either side of six hours.

The older hands from the velo described the conditions as worst than they had seen before due to the heavy rain in the preceding weeks, Mons en Pevele being particularly nasty, causing riders to pick careful lines through mud more suited to cyclo cross.

Well done all three.