17/05/2014 – National Tandem and Midland Round of National Omnium Meet
Over 85 riders enjoyed a full day of great, incident free racing at the Swinnertoncycles.co.uk sponsored, British Cycling National Tandem Sprint Championship & Youth Midland Region Omnium Round 2014
A packed programme of 50 events and heats contained a mixture of youth and experience with 20 riders in the exciting tandem sprint, along with stars of the future in the youth races.
The day contained two main events – the National Tandem Sprint Championship with many current Para Olympic gold medallists and a round of the British Cycling Midland Youth Omnium series. This has seven gender and age categories of youth riders ,competing over 5 sprint and endurance events, to find the best riders on the day.
British Cycling National Tandem Sprint Championship, sponsored by Swinnertoncycles.co.uk
New tandem pairing of Para World Championship gold medalist Peter Mitchell (Performance Cycle Coaching) and Paralympic Gold medalist Anthony Kappes MBE (Yasumitsu Schlapp) won the 2014 British Cycling National Tandem Sprint.
The pairing qualified the fastest, won through the rounds and semi finals, to beat silver medallists, and new local pairing veteran World Masters Champion Phil Houlton (Brooks Cycles ) and Junior rider Tom Rotherham (Sportcity Velo) 2-0 in the best of three rides.
Leuan Williams CC Cardiff and Matthew Ellis Newport Youth Velo CC beat Peter Boyd and David Heald (VC St Raphael)2-0 to win the minor final for bronze and forth.
It was also great to see 10 tandems competing this year, with great support from the Great Britain Para-cycling Team and four female tandem pairings competing. Best of the ladies was Jenny Davis (City of Edinburgh Racing Club) and Fiona Duncan (Bonito Squadra Corse).
The crowds were treated to a master class of close, fast and exciting tandem riding from all the riders. (Especially from Peter Boyd!)
Newcastle under Lyme Midland Region Omnium, sponsored by Swinnertoncycles.co.uk
Under 16 Boys – A field of 17 under 16 boys battled over the five Omnium events, with some fast and furious racing from the moment the racing started. Jake Stewart (Solihull CC) was the top rider on the day, taking a well deserved win from Charlie Cox (Lichfield City CC). 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 – Sophie Capewell (Lichfield City CC) gave a dominant display of Omnium riding in the under 16 girls event , winning the scratch, elimination, Keirin and 800m time trial. The event was a mix of sprint versus endurance, with Capewell coming out on top over Charlotte Broughton (MG Decor)
Under 14 Boys – Lewis Askey ~(Lichfield City CC) showed he had put in some hard training over winter. He gave won a close fought battle being consistent in the scratch, points, elimination, and time trial to win the under 14 boys category. William Manfield-Yorke (Wolverhampton Whls) rode consistently to take second place from Matthew Shaw (Solihull CC)
Under 12’s – It’s always great to see a field of under 12 riders racing and this was no exception. These stars of the future battled away spinning little gears and all had big smiles on their faces. Ryan Brookes (Halesowen A & CC) came out on top with four wins in five races . Whilst Connor Smith (Lichfield City CC) rode consistently, moving up the rankings to take a fine second place overall from Josh Field Halesowen A & CC in third.
Under 10’s – There were five under 10 year old riders, with some close fought racing, Ben Askey (Lichfield City CC) came out on top on the day winning all five events as he did last year. Alex Barker (Halesowen A & CC) piped Luke Harris Halesowen A & CC to third place in a close fought battle.
We would like to thank our sponsor Swinnertoncycles.co.uk , British Cycling, all the helpers, officials, parents and riders for supporting the event and helping make a great day of racing.
Paul Barber, Organiser, NTCA