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Green Arrow RT grass track meeting
Simon & Sophie of Green Arrow RT are well known to many CCA youth riders as coaches, and they promoted a fantastic afternoon's racing yesterday in Hertford (including the National 400m Championship). Here are some highlights:-
- CC Ashwell probably had more youth riders there than any other club, and I think just about all of them ended up on the podium.
- Ex-CCA rider Andrew Leveton was on course to retain his National 400m sprint title when his rear tyre rolled off the rim in the last bend of the final. Miraculously he stayed upright, but it was a great pity for him.
- Meanwhile, our junior Bryn Davies took an amazing 4th place in the same (senior) national championship. After losing his sprint heat, he fought his way through the repechage to get to the semi final. Then he qualified for the final itself by beating some very experienced track riders in his semi final. It was a fantastic result.
- Our team of James, Ollie, Dan and Bryn had an average age of 13 years old but took 4th place in the Italian Pursuit against some teams with much older, bigger riders.
- The novelty event at the end was extremely funny and is definitely one that we will try out one Thursday evening at the field before the summer is out...
Well done everyone.
Mark F
- CC Ashwell probably had more youth riders there than any other club, and I think just about all of them ended up on the podium.
- Ex-CCA rider Andrew Leveton was on course to retain his National 400m sprint title when his rear tyre rolled off the rim in the last bend of the final. Miraculously he stayed upright, but it was a great pity for him.
- Meanwhile, our junior Bryn Davies took an amazing 4th place in the same (senior) national championship. After losing his sprint heat, he fought his way through the repechage to get to the semi final. Then he qualified for the final itself by beating some very experienced track riders in his semi final. It was a fantastic result.
- Our team of James, Ollie, Dan and Bryn had an average age of 13 years old but took 4th place in the Italian Pursuit against some teams with much older, bigger riders.
- The novelty event at the end was extremely funny and is definitely one that we will try out one Thursday evening at the field before the summer is out...
Well done everyone.
Mark F
Comments
From a racing point of view; I was drawn in a strong heat where I was the only non-VC St Raphael rider. As I made my move up the outside on the back straight I got 'nudged' by a big rider wanting to move out, wobbled slightly (partly through lack of recent track experience) and lost enough momentum for me to sit up, knowing only the top 2 went through. I was happy with my ride in the repechage where I managed to fulfil my goal of 'get to the front and stay there' and was then delighted to take the third of the qualifying places in the semi to make the final. The final saw a strong line up (see below) and it was a great experience to race in such an impressive field. I lost touch with the best of them in the final 150m, although this wasn't such a bad thing when Andy rolled his tub in front of me, giving me a moment to adjust to safety.
These efforts had taken quite a bit out of my legs so I didn't feature quite as strongly as I would have liked in the other events, but it was still a great afternoon with plenty of good riding.
To echo Mark's comments, the efforts of the CCA youth section were very impressive - you could even describe them as having been dominant! The Italian pursuit at the end was great fun, our 4th placed team being the only team with riders completely from one club.