June 2014: National Youth Circuit Series Report

National Youth Circuit Series, 21st June 2014

The Nationals have come and gone for another year, and wow what a wonderful day it turned out to be! Weather wise, we could not have asked for a more amazing day – unlike last year where we had to deal with dreadful winds and drizzle, we were treated to clear skies and sunshine all day long. Better yet, we took a lot of the learnings from last year and were better prepared this year – so thankfully, a smoothly executed nationals was underway without hiccup thanks to all the volunteers who lent a helping hand, under the brilliant direction and steer of Alison and John. Operationally, sign on flowed calmly thanks to the efficiency and preparation of the team; with the flow of signed sheets and results data between the judges and commissaires expertly handled by our fantastic runners of the day. The judges and marshalls of course had to meticulously pay attention to the masses on the track, multi-tasking to ensure rider positions were captured and safety rules adhered to at all times.  The mechanics were on top form as usual, starting bright and early with the first gear checks before 8.30am, and no rider was left untended to thanks to their unwavering committment to rider safety! Of course, we had a few tumbles and the 1st Aid team was kept fairly busy, but fortunately, no dreadfully serious incidents occurred! Considering we had a grand total of 293 riders signing on, plus their parents/ guardians, and a good few visitors who just came to watch, we managed to comfortably feed the masses thanks to the excellent planning of the catering team; and of course, let’s not forget entertain everyone thanks to the fantastic nationals soundtrack provided by the DJ/ PA crew. We had some exciting racing, each category featuring Slipstreamers, and fantastic results where almost every podium had at least one Slipstreamer on it – even those that didn’t make the podium produced some incredible results, so amazing all round!

If you ‘d like to read the official British Cycling report on the BC website, do click here to view.

A Note from our Chair, Alison Grant:

What a successful day the Nationals turned out to be – and that success was all down to the volunteers who turned up from the early hours of the morning and stayed on to the last few hours of the day. We really wanted to thank all of you individually, but we felt a public vote of thanks via the newsletter would make others realise how much goes into making the day work so well. In previous years we have been so manic in the morning trying to get set up before the onslaught, resulting is us being so tired before the first race starts! This year, because so many volunteers arrived early and asked “What can I do?” it was all done in time, and so much better ,and it all went so well.

Those of you who stayed all day showed amazing commitment to the club and the children who raced, as well as incredible stamina. For those that managed a few hours because of other family commitments, we are  so grateful for any time you could spare. It all contributed to a successful day! A special mention goes to all the Young Volunteers who helped out and took on some very different roles between them – well done and remember to log all those hours.

Whatever job or role you took on it was important and helped everybody else. From arrival in the car park with our helpers there, all those who helped in catering both BBQ and clubhouse, gear checking, judging and spotting, PA and music, sign-on and results, 1st Aid, trophies, marshalling, runners (actually they were cycling too and probably did more miles on Saturday than a normal Slipstreamer session!!!), signage or just last minute jobs that needing doing e.g. the need for finding where the extra loo rolls were kept, comes to mind!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

And for those Slipstreamers who raced, I can only say WELL DONE! You all represented the club so well. Whether you finished on the podium or not, or had to withdraw because of mechanical reasons, you showed the rest of the Youth Cycling world how to conduct yourselves so well. You can see from the results below that we had some excellent finishes – including our star of the day, Lorna Bowler, who had such an exciting sprint finish and won by a tyre’s width, if that! So listen to your coaches and hang in there, as Lorna has had some crashes and disappointments in previous rounds of the series, but it all came together for her at her home race.

WELL DONE EVERYONE!!

A Note from Our Race Organiser, Clive Dawkins:

THANK YOU! To all the club members and parents who made it such a great day! You all made my life as organiser much easier than I was expecting and hence much more enjoyable and stress free! Please don’t just take my word for it – we have had a number of emails thanking us for putting on such a well organised day. See for yourselves:

Our Chief Commissairre, Kay Ball said:
You did a cracking job! Every time I come back it just keeps getting better and better!!!  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pass on my thanks to everyone involved in the club/friends/family who were dragged in etc… as they all did a cracking job. Had loads of positive feedback about the catering so please let those ladies know, the marshalls, most of whom I didn’t even get to see to acknowledge their existance, cracking job, the judges who again… was so busy doing ‘my thing’ didn’t really get chance to speak to them either… and the gear checkers… just everyone. Much better than most of the adult races I do!!
So BIG well done to all of your team!!!

And from Richard Hemsley, Assistant Commissairre & BC Regional Competition Administrator:
The best organised National event I have been involved with!

And finally, from James Lyon, Event Development Officer – Road sent the following note:
Just a quick note from me to say a huge thanks for what seems to have been a very well received event.  It’s the first round of the Youth Series where I’ve not come in on Monday to find NO emails of complaint! As always, the  support and dedication of both you and the Slipstreamers is a credit to the sport and we hope to welcome the event back to the National Series next year.

Well done to everyone for making the day such a success!

Your Nationals Experience – Tell Us About It…

You’ve heard from us, now we’d love to hear from you!! Whether you were a young volunteer, general helper or a rider, this was your first time at a National race, or you are an old hand at this – your experience matters and we would love it if you would please let us know about it.

• Write an article for us, long or short, of your day/ ride/ experience at nationals, and this could get published in the next issue of our magazine. Our magazine is not only disseminated to your peers, but also to a few very important senior people in Hillingdon who like to keep up with what Slipstreamers are up to – this is your chance to shine! Oh, and did we mention if your report is published, you’ll receive a shopping voucher (Wiggle, Amazon – you choose!)? We look forward to reading your reports, so please do email these to magazine@slipstreamers.co.uk as soon as possible!
• How can we improve? Please do send us your feedback on how you felt Nationals went on Saturday – did you receive any comments (negative or positive) that we should be aware of and that will help us improve next year? Do you have any general suggestions for improvement? We’d love to hear from both parents, volunteers, riders, etc – please email signon@slipstreamers.co.uk with your thoughts, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, do use the suggestions box or drop us a note in a sealed envelope at the sign-on desk on Saturday.

Nationals – Captured in a Few Snaps!

A special event like the Nationals cannot go by without a few photos of our Slipstreamers on the circuit, volunteers, and random snaps of the day. We think we’ve captured the spirit of the day in these photos – thank you to all who sent in your pictures – but if you have more that you would like us to add, please do feel free to email these across by reply to this email and we will be happy to include them!

As we normally do:

• If you’d like to see a fantastic collection of the best photos showcasing our volunteers, riders on the track in action, and winners on the podium, and presented in a storyboard, do click here to view

And finally, if you don’t feel like clicking the links, here are a just a few snapshots:

Our Fabulous Bunch of Volunteers:

Our Brilliant Slipstreamers Riders:

Under 8’s…

Under 10’s…

Under 12’s…

Under 14’s…

Under 16’s…

Our Podium Winners:

Nationals Winners Corner!

And finally, here are the results of all our racers who competed in Saturday’s races:

U8   Girls:  3rd, Millie Coleman; 4th, Bobbie O’Brien; 6th, Lucy Allsop
U10 Boys:  6th, Jed Smithson; 12th, Joseph O’Brien; 16th, Cameron Still; 17th, Alexander Uphill; 18th, Ben Bisson; 22nd, Oliver Emment; 24th, William Roake; 25th, Tom Stringer; 29th, Jude Ackland; 30th, Dennis Marjanov; 32nd, Taylor Evans
U10 Girls:  3rd, Caitlin Loveless; 32nd DNF, Esme Devlin

Well done riders – you are ALL fantastic for having achieved the results you did!!!