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Sportcity and Eastland riders did us proud at the National Omnium and each and everyone of the riders should take a positive experience from the day! I did........ I've not been a riders whip before and it was good fun and gave me a chance to see the racing from a slightly different angle.
Across the age groups we got 3 podium spots, 1 very unlucky not to be a podium place (Jess Anderson) and I think in the individual events we got lots of top 3 placings from our riders.
From the 100 qualifiers through the regional rounds there were 17 Sportcity/Eastlands riders at sign on. Thats impressive given that the qualification was from all over the British Isles.
Nice big circle of riders and parents (should have bigger though we did feel a bit hemmed in because of our numbers....).
First half hour was warm up split up into 3 ten minute blocks of 30 riders per block, key learning point here please read.
Get to the warm up early if the 30 limit is reached you were not allowed on the track I had the task of telling someone who had travelled from scotland that they weren't allowed to warm up because the limit had been reached. (interesting point is there was warm up space for 90 people however an entr of a hundred, I guess this should be changed for next year).
1st event was a time trial from 4 stations Youth C over 500 metres Youth A&B over 1000 (or a kilo). Len, Marks and Johns start coaching helped lots as our riders were able to start on the back straight and also a bend.
3 seconds split the whole u12 category so it was tight!!!
Highlight of the U14 girls tt was Jess Anderson with a strong fifth.
Under 14s boys time trial was a 1 and 2 for Jake Ragan and Matthew Rotherham showing great strength and showing what a tussle this was going to be between the two of them.
Under 16s girl time trial saw Lisa Daly and Sophie in action battling against very strong opposition.
Under 16 boys was a talented bunch and in here we had the Yates boys and Chris Sherriffs. A strong tt for Simon with Adam not too far behind but enough to scupper his chances of an overall podium place.
Interestingly the kilo results place the riders into heats for the kierin, meaning that if you do not score highly in your tt then you get placed in a low kierin group. Being placed in a low kierin groups limits the points you can score in this event. In summary a poor tt means that your chances of a podium place for the overall event are virtually written off so it was extremely pleasing to see riders in this position pick themselves up and deliver some fantastic individual results and placings (the riders you know who you are Chris Sherriffs, Chris Latham, Melissa Bury, Adam Yates, Christian Braybrooke).
Next up was the scratch races going up in distance as the older riders hit the boards.
Youth Cs saw a fine ride from Christian Braybrooke bagging a second with Joel and Alex finishing in the bunch just behind.
Youth B girls 3rd for Melissa Bury 6th for Jess and 12th for Hannah.
Youth B boys A real show of strength here! A crash early in the race saw Lewis Barry, Matt Rotherham, Josh Penrice all go go down with a bump near the flying 200 line. Quick as a flash they were all up to the applause of the crowd for their bravery and contesting the race. You'll have to let me know how all our riders managed to crash on our own track! Was it choppers???
Jake 1st Mathew 3rd, Chris 5th. Thats good reading isnt it?
Youth A girls I think Sophie and Lisa finished in the bunch?
In the Youth A boys written as a Yates term we smashed it........! Adam Yates first Chris Sherriffs third, Simon Yates 5th.
Kierins next
Bit scary this because some of the riders (not ours) were new to this and were asking interesting questions (like whats a kierin......?)
However the event passed without incident (apart from one)and I think we got lots of wins/placings in the individual heats. One point of note was Mr Sherriffs wrecked his second skinsuit this year....Doesn't look like it can be patched up :-(. Oh and Matthew did manage to get one over on Jake.
Final event of the day was the points event, I was flapping here because I didn't think we were going to get finished at this point.
Points racing is about being in the right place at the right time, following the right wheels and to me looks very difficult especially if some of the rders are not 100% comfortable on the Manchester boards.
Fantastic sprint for some points by Hannah Layland looked very impressive in the B's and Jess was always in the right place. Jake and Matthew 1 and 2 in the U14s. Simon Yates got 1st in U16s and Chris Sherriffs had a great ride to get 8th.
So a good day and I think lifes quite good!
Sorry its long but bare with me.
Some good spots that I saw.
Warm ups on rollers
Pre race focussing (Lewis well done)
Getting to the start on time (thank you)
Going again when time trial wasn't what you wanted.
Finally I'm interested what you thought of methods of getting you to the start were they ok? Answers on a postcard please?
Ian
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