Newport Nocturne bike race has town buzzing

The 10th Newport Nocturne on Saturday night proved a magnet for cycle fans from across the region, as well as those from closer to home, with around 10,000 spectators.

Today organisers said they were considering bidding to bring the sport's National Championships to Shropshire.

Men's and women's races followed a 1.2-mile circuit of the town centre, with riders speeding down the High Street, around St Nicholas' Church, up the cobbles of St Mary Street and back up through the High Street and into Avenue Road and Granville Avenue – where residents could get the best view by simply standing outside their front doors – before heading back into the town.

Riders rode for 45 minutes, plus five laps of the circuit.

The Nocturne – the first for two years – was again organised by father and son team Mick and Nick Jeggo, their wives Maureen and Diane, and 96 volunteers, who marked out the route and stayed on to clear away afterwards.

Nick Jeggo said: "We're really pleased. We were worried before the race because we had probably less advertising this time but it's been absolutely fantastic. The crowd has really grown through the night.

"It was perhaps a little bit small to start with but by halfway through the women's race it was absolutely massive so we are really, really pleased.

"We've had 10-15,000 people in the past and it certainly didn't look any smaller to me, so I would say a good 10,000 came."

Mr Jeggo estimated that the riders were travelling at speeds of between 30 and 35 miles per hour, and said this meant the drivers of the leader cars had to take extra care.

"Every time we do it some of our sponsors travel in the lead cars and they're always quite shocked by the speed of the riders," he said. "They have a job to keep ahead because whereas the lead cars can accelerate down the straight, some of the straights are very short, and the cyclists are much quicker, so the lead cars have to get some distance before the corners."

The town's pubs and takeways did brisk business, and a number of shops stayed open into the evening, including Shell's Scrumptious Sweets.

Owner Michelle Hellewell said it was her first Nocturne as she opened her shop, off High Street, last September.

"It was quieter at the beginning but now it's picked up," she said.

"We've had lots of new customers and met lots of new people who've come from Birmingham and all over the place.

"It's worth staying open for. I think something like this is a great thing for Newport. It brings the town alive."

The visitors included Stuart Walker, who came from Rugeley.

A cyclist and former time trial rider, Mr Walker said he had been visiting the Newport Nocturne for around 10 years.

"I love coming out here," he said. "It's a good thing for the town, especially a little town out here."

Roger and Carol Griffiths had come from Wellington to see their first Nocturne after Mr Griffiths became interested in cycling through the Tour de France.

"We've really enjoyed it," said Mrs Griffiths. "It's been excellent and very well organised."

Mick Jeggo said he was pleased with the way the night had gone, although he admitted to some nerves at the start.

"At about half past six I thought, 'Where's the crowd?' but by seven o'clock it was just massive," he said.

"I think it's as good as we've ever had."

Races finished at 10pm, and hundreds of people stayed to watch men's winner Matthieu Boulo receive his weight in beer, donated by Paul Quinn, landlord of The Phez pub in High Street.

The volunteers had the crash barriers removed and the town reopened to traffic roughly an hour after the event ended.

Mr Jeggo said he saw the Nocturne as more than just a cycle race.

"It's a showcase for Newport," he explained. "The help we get is terrific.

"There's guys working for nothing putting all this stuff away. They're just supporters of bike racing, really.

"I think it's wonderful that the community works like this.

"It wouldn't work, say, in the middle of a big city, there's no community spirit, but here it can happen."

Mr Jeggo, whose love of cycling goes back to his boyhood rides from Lilleshall to Newport's Adams Grammar School, said the idea of a floodlit bike race was unique in Britain when the Nocturne began. Since then, however, other towns and cities have held their own – sometimes claiming all the credit.

Mr Jeggo said that when a floodlit race was held in London, its organisers claimed to have come up with the idea.

"The next week one of the cycle magazines said, no, it was Newport that did it first. I was very pleased," said Mr Jeggo.

"They stuck up for us."