Local international cycling champion

Mark Cavendish, unfortunately, missed out on glory at London 2012 while Lizzie Armitstead came so close to Gold yesterday in the Olympics Ladies' Road Race.

Audlem, however, can claim one international champion – and she was cycling in the parade at the Audlem Transport Festival yesterday.

Maggie Chatfield of Coxbank recently won her Championship title at the International Vintage Bicycle event in Ghent, Belgium where she competed.

Maggie has been reticent about speaking about this amazing feat because of the dramatic finish to her race that saw her triumph literally on the line.

Arms raised
All seemed lost as her German competitor surged towards the finishing line and, anticipating victory, raised both arms, Cavendish-style, in triumph – only to immediately crash off her machine with Maggie surging past.

Photographs showed that while the German lady's nose had crossed the line, critically, her bicycle had failed to finish.

Maggie still feels so sorry for her injured competitor that she has specifically asked to be disassociated from Audlem Online's response to this dramatic victory: "That's even better than beating Germany on penalties."

Concern
Indeed, Maggie has since called the organisers in Belgium and checked that her courageous competitor has fully recovered after her unfortunate crash.

Yesterday, Maggie could be seen cycling at the start of the Festival parade on the winning bicycle through Audlem immediately after Merlin on his Penny Farthing.

Modest
Soon after she reached the playing field, your Audlem Online reporter had to work hard to persuade her to go public about her international triumph. Modest to the last, at first she hesitated, before finally admitting to her championship status. 

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