Event: 21 April 2013
Location: Middlesbrough Cycle Circuit
Report: Kevin Kilcullen

A fantastic day of racing with 63 riders turning out for the first round with an additional nine riders for the supporting Go Ride race.

Dry but breezy conditions at Middlesbrough brought about some very exciting racing in all categories. Additional league points were picked up by Matty Worton, Richie Allen and Harry Craig in the sprint at half distance in the U16, U14 race.

In the U8 and U10 race two distinct bunches formed early on, one containing the U10 riders and the other the U8 riders. The U8s stayed together until the end to take it to a sprint finish with Daniel Saba (Newcastle Phoenix) out sprinting young Joel Hurt (SWCC) in the boys race and Daisy Freer(SWCC) taking the win from team mate Kacey Eyeington, despite coming off her bike earlier in the race.

The majority of the U10s stayed together until lap eight of 12 when pressure applied at the front by Henry Demoily (CWCC), Lewis Dolan (SWCC), Daniel Holmes and Matthew Wells (both Tyne Vags) managed to split from the remainder of the group to take it all the way to the finish and a four up sprint with Henry taking the win from Daniel. Some strong riding by Beth Orchard (Newcastle Phoenix) kept her with the boys until the split for her to take the win in the girls race from team mate Grace Castle and Lititia Hay (Hetton Hawks) with Roisin Lally (One Life) showing true spirit and determination to continue riding after a crash with a suspected fractured wrist.

The U12s race split up quite early on with Connor Eyeington (SWCC) forging on at the front with a small group of riders and using some of the older riders racing alongside to motivate him to get away from the rest of his group just before half distance. He continued this through to the end to take the win. With only two girls in the U12 race the win looked to be going to Robyn Jones(SWCC), however a crash saw her off her not only having to take a lap out but never regaining the pace she'd set early on which allowed Eve Baines (SWCC) to capitalise with a consistent ride throughout.

In the U14 and U16 race pressure applied early on in the race allowed a group of 6 U16 riders and 1 U14 rider (Richie Allen, Newcastle Phoenix) to form with everyone else struggling to live with their pace. The group worked well with the occasional tentative attack which never really came to much. In the end it came down to a bunch sprint with Matty Worton (Black Hawk) taking the win by the width of a tyre from Harry Craig (Motivo RT) with Richie Allen taking a comfortable 1st in the U14 race from Arran Preston (Cleveland Wheelers). In the U14 girls the win was taken by some strong riding by Sophie Enever (Tyneside Vags) from Alexandra Rimmer (Hetton Hawks). The U16 girls started out as a duel between Kisrty Boak (Tyneside Vags) and Esther Farnell (Clifton CC) with Alex Woodcock(SWCC) just off the pace. Kirsty showed how strong she was later in the race and managed to ride away from Esther to take an easy win.