Above: Livvi Horsley and Lauren Hookaway in heat 13
Horspath's Livvi Horsley stole the show in the 2011 Womens Individual Championships at Hethersett's Memorial park on Saturday claiming both the Under 16 and the Open title.
With reigning Open Champion Rachel Edge not able to compete in this years final and Under 16's Champion Michelle Whitehead now too old for the age group, the ever improving Horsley rose to the occasion to take both titles in fine style. A relative newcomer to the sport the young Horspath rider held her nerves and seemed to thrive on the big occasion,only dropping one point to take the outright win in both competitions. Pre race favourite Lauren Jacobs' race was effictively over by heat five with an exclusion for moving at the tapes. World Champion Laura Watson, 2010 runner up Lucy Whitehead and Ipswich's Laura Dale all looked to be having an out of sorts day which made Horsley's victories all the more special.
Horsley's day started in the first race taking a fine win from Lauren Davies after a great pass on the second lap to take the race lead and the lead she would hold throughout the Championships. Michelle Whitehead started her account in heat three with a fine win just holding out from Sheffield's Vicky Brown and Lauren Hookaway, an uncharacteristic last place from Lucy Whitehead only fired the Leicester rider up for her next outing in heat five, taking a typically classy Whitehead win from Charlie Jane Herbert.
A cracking race in heat six saw Horsley take her second win of the day passing Michelle Whitehead going into the last lap and holding onto the front spot until the chequered flag.Heat ten again saw Horsley storm away to take her third win of the day with Laura Watson looking on for a second place but it would be Vicky Brown who made a great pass on Watson going into the last lap to claim her third second spot. Heat twelve saw Laura Dale introducing herself to the concrete on the first bend after tangling with Danielle Riley and then to do the same in the restart.Riley held on to take her second win of the day holding off a strong challenge from Michele Whitehead.
With twelve heats completed it was Horsley out in front with a maximum twelve points but with Lauren Davies,Michelle Whitehead and Lauren Hookaway all on ten points the race for the title was still wide open.
Heat thirteen was a race worthy of any major competition,with Horsley looking to continue her maximum points collection and Hookaway looking to close her two point gap it was to be the race of the day. With the competiton leader holding the front spot for the first two laps it would be upto Hookaway to take the race to Horsley and on the third lap the Exeter rider did just that,holding the Horspath rider wheel to wheel on the back straight and then diving in to take the lead going into the third bend. Heat eighteen saw yet another great race again involving Horsley, a strong gate from Lucy Whitehead saw the Leicester rider take control of things on the opening lap only for Horsley to make a brilliant pass on the second lap and go onto take her forth win of the day and both Championship titles. A win in heat nineteen saw Lauren Davies take overall second spot and the run off for third saw another win for Lauren Hookaway to claim a well deserved third place.
Results
WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Livvi Horsley (Horspath) 19, Lauren Davies (Leicester) 18, Michelle Whitehead (Leicester) 17, Lauren Hookway (Exeter) 17, Danielle Riley (Norwich) 17, Vicky Brown 15, Charlie-Jane Herbert (Horspath) 13, Lucy Whitehead (Leicester) 12, Lauren Jacobs (Ipswich) 11, Laura Dale (Ipswich) 11, Tiffany Collins (Hethersett) 10, Laura Watson (Sheffield) 10, Rebecca Davies (Newport) 9, Natalie Timms (Birmingham) 7, Kristina Mines (Poole) 7, Courtney Aris (Wednesfield) 6
UNDER 16 CHAMPIONSHIPS
1st Livvi Horsley (Horspath), 2nd Lauren Davies (Leciester), 3rd Lauren Hookway (Exeter)
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
