National Youth Omnium Finals in Wolverhampton, on 4th July 2015
Rider Report by Zoe Brookes, U14’s
Getting ready…
“On Saturday I went to Wolverhampton for the national track championships. I had qualified for the final in April and May at the southern track qualifiers. Jemma had also qualified in my category, Tom in the 14 boys and Louis in the 16’s.
On Saturday morning at the hotel it looked like it was going to rain and there had already been a bit of a storm in the night so I was happy that the weather actually turned quite nice. I didn’t really want to watch the track dry for 4 hours like we had to at Bournemouth!!
The first event was the 1km TT, which is my favourite/best event. I was quite pleased with how it went and I came 17th out of 28 riders. Next was the elimination race, which is my weakest event. I got caught out at the top of the track early on but Jemma put in a great performance to get 14th. Then we had the scratch race and I was having quite a decent race until I got forced off the track on the last lap.
Zoe and Jemma with Friends
My keirin went okay but I didn’t have enough in my legs to sprint like I have been able to a couple of times before. I was also not happy with “the derny” which was definitely a motorbike and not a proper derny!!
Last was the points race. By then I was tired and it was all I could do to hang in at the back of the group, however I managed to get past a couple of riders with a sprint at the end.
Overall I came 23rd. It was a good experience but a big step up from what I have been doing and it is only my first year of track racing. I would like to go back next year or the year after if I can qualify and be a bit more competitive.
Well done to Louis and Tom who both rode really well, and a big well done to Jemma who rode well despite only breaking her wrist recently.”
Rider Report by Jemma Bowler, U14’s
Jemma preparing
“On Saturday my Mum took me to Wolverhampton where I raced in the track national final. I have only recently had my cast off from breaking my wrist at the qualifiers but I really wanted to do it.
The day was absolutely great as I saw my friend who crashed with me at the qualifiers and had time to speak. As well as that the racing was great and I thought I did alright. The TT was one of my worst but I still did alright (Zoe did really well here), then the elimination came, this is my favourite and I did the best in this. After that I did the scratch where I came in in the pack. Next was the Keirin but I didn’t do very well in that and then points wasn’t very good so I dropped. Overall, the day was great as I can confidently ride in the pack. However it was very dodgy as I kept getting pushed off onto the Athletics track with Zoe.
I had a great time and I hope to qualify next year so I can do even better than this year. And NOT break my wrist again!!!”
Thank you for your reports girls – excellent reading and well done!
Do search the News Hub for more reports and experiences from our riders; and if you’d like to send us your cycling experiences, please do – we’d love to hear from you.