WORCESTER St John’s Cycling Club are celebrating after a raft of wins at the UCI Tour of Cambridgeshire.

Sarah Watmore and David Hughes qualified for Great Britain for September's UCI World Fondo Championships in Varese, Italy.

The top 25 per cent finish times within each age group in the Chrono, Gran Fondo Race and Gran Fond Sportive collectively progressed.

Watmore, of Hallow, said: “I am absolutely thrilled. I was in the 45 to 49 female age bracket in the 21-plus mph sport group of the Gran Fondo Sportive.

"It was a 79.3-mile route which I completed in three hours 44 minutes at 21mph average coming in at 22nd out of 32 qualifying women in my age bracket.

"It was tough and the start was very fast but I stuck with a group for most of the first half.”

Hughes said he competed well in the first half of the race despite the 26-degree heat.

“In the second half I began to suffer with dehydration and cramp and was dropped from the peloton with just 10 miles to the finish line,” he said.

“However, I gritted my teeth to cross the line four minutes behind the bunch in 3.19 to put myself in the top 25 per cent of riders in the 45 to 49 age category.”

Meanwhile, Mark Hand, Rikky Hughes, Stuart Parker and Martin Stanley headed for the Team Chrono race which was a time trial on road bikes around a 16.4-mile circuit.

One of the four was suffering from flu but all finished together as a team.

Stanley said the commentator announced Worcester St John's as being one of the oldest clubs in the country still going.

“It felt really good to hear the acknowledgement of our club,” he said.

“We completed the race in 22nd place with a time of 41.40. The event was great fun and we are already planning to go back next year with the team at full strength.”

Twenty-seven riders competed for the D&G Hughes Cup over the hilly, 14-mile Leigh circuit time trial.

Simon Garrett retained the silverware with a winning time of 34.22 from Mark Daffin with 35.18 and Martin Lines with 36.44.

David Pardoe clocked 38.00, 24 Will Davies 38.18, Ed Dursley 38.20, Rob Nicholls 38.35, Sean Dyson 38.45, Henry Marles 39.28, Parker 40.16, Dylan Perkins 40.38, Russell Middleton 41.19, Marcus Hibbert 41.59, Sam Clarke 42.43, Andrew Russell 42.59, Allan Watson 43.26, Gary Holland 44.35 and Sam Revell 44.39.