18/05/2013 – Results and Report from Swinnerton Cycles National Tandem and Youth Open 18th May 2013

The weather gods teased us, yet we still got in a full day of great, incident free racing at the Swinnerton Cycles British Cycling National Tandem Sprint Championship & Youth Midland Region Omnium Round 2013

Over 75 riders took to the track in a packed programme of  50 events and heats. The event contained a mixture of youth and experience, with 18 riders in the exciting tandem sprint, along with stars of the future in the youth races.

We had two main events.

1). The National Tandem Sprint Championship with many former Olympic Gold medallists.

2) A round of the British Cycling Midland Youth Omnium series.  This has 6 gender and age categories of youth riders ,competing over 5 sprint and endurance events, to find the best riders on the day.

Swinnerton Cycles BC National Tandem Sprint Championship 2013

New tandem pairing of Paralympic Gold medalist Craig Maclean – Liverpool Mercury – Dolan and European Junior Champion Matthew Rotheram – Sportcity Velo won the 2013 British Cycling National Tandem Sprint, Sponsored by Swinnerton Cycles.  The pairing qualified the fastest, won through the rounds and semi finals, to beat silver medallists Neil Fachie Ythan CC and Pete Mitchell  – Performance Cycle Coaching 2-0 in the best of 3 rides.

Peter Boyd and David Heald  – VC St Raphael beat Ben Elliot  –  VC St Raphael and John Saysell 2-0 to win the minor final for bronze and forth..  Both Peter and John are in there 25th season of tandem sprinting, showing a mixture of youth and experience in the event..

It was also great to see 9 tandems competing this year, with great support from the GB Para Team and four female tandem pairings competing. Best of the ladies was Helen Scott – Performance Cycle Coaching and Sophie Thornhill  – Sportcity Velo.

The crowds were treated to a master class of close, fast and exciting tandem riding from all the riders.

Swinnerton Cycles 2013 North Region Youth Omnium

Under 16 Boys

A field of 12 under 16 boys battled over the five Omnium events, with some fast and furious racing from the moment the racing started. Jack Escritt  – Velocity WD-40 was the top rider on the day, taking a well deserved win from Joel Partington – Sportcity Velo . All the riders are to be commended for an excellent display of riding which was clearly ahead of their years, displaying plenty of promise for their future within the sport.

Under 16 Girls

Lucy Shaw – Solihull CC gave a consistent display of Omnium riding in the under 16 girls scratch, points, elimination, Keirin and 800m time trial. The event was a mix of sprint versus endurance, with Lucy coming out on top over U16 National Sprint Champion Sophie Capewell – Lichfield City CC.

Under 14 Boys

Benjamin Hardwick – Wolverhampton Wheelers showed he had put in some hard training over winter. He gave a dominant display of riding in the scratch, points, elimination, and time trial winning 3 events to win the under 14 boys category. Harry Yates  – Lichfield City CC rode consistently to take second place from Charlie Cox  – Lichfield City CC.

Under 14 Girls