Yorkshire Regional grass track Championships 2009

13th July 2009; Roundhay Park, Leeds

With heavy rain forecast for the evening, it looked like the championships would be a wash out, however, with the exception of a short sharp shower, the weather held and a full evenings racing took place. The event was in the format of a Youth and Senior Omnium and spectators were treated to an exciting evening of racing with the entry by Youth riders by far the largest.

Sponsorship of £200 from Heads and Tales of Gomersal together with a donation from the Leeds Kirkgate Cycle Club meant there was a first prize of £100, plus money for each of the individual races in the Omnium. Medals and prizes for first place were awarded to the winners of all the youth categories by Bob Howden, Vice-Chair of British Cycling whilst Councillor Matthew Lobley, Conservative Councillor for Roundhay, came to present the prizes for the seniors.

Senior Omnium
No one could match Matthew Fenton (Cottingley Coureurs RT) who took a clean sweep of all the events, winning not only the cash for the first places in the individual events as well as the Omnium, but also the Summersgill Trophy for the 800m and the Ellis Brown Trophy for the Omnium. Steve Barnes (Seacroft Wheelers) showed his excellent form and took second place overall plus first veteran, with Lewis Meadows taking a well deserved third place.

Under 8 Omnium
An outstanding time trial time and pursuit time for Will Faichney (City Road Club, Hull) set him up for success followed by an outright win in the scratch race. Clearly showing early potential, Will’s time trial was faster than most U10’s and some U12’s. Second and third place went to new riders Billy Lazenby (Ampleforth CC) (2nd) and his sister Ella (3rd) who also won the girl’s competition.

Under 10 Omnium
Tom Pidcock (Epic/Viner RT) has clearly inherited his father Giles’ genes as he took the Under 10 gold although it wasn’t plain sailing. Joe Faichney (City Road Club, Hull) won the time trial element with another fast time, only slightly slower than the winner of the Under 12’s, but couldn’t sustain it in the remaining events. Third went to Aidan Holmes (Leeds Mercury).

Under 12 Omnium
Chris Barnes (Seacroft Wheelers)  continued his formidable form with a clear win in every event. With several regional and national titles to his belt, he took gold and clearly showed everyone he is a name to watch. Joe Parker (Crosstrax), despite his second in the British Schools Grass Track Championships, couldn’t quite match Chris’s speed and took second. Celia Husdon took third place and first girl with an excellent ride.

Under 14 Omnium
With clear wins expected across the board from the talented Jake Womersley (Sowerby Bros RT), a surprise was in store in the time trial. Seb Marsh (Seacroft Wheelers) produced an exceptional time, beaten only by Matthew Rotherham (Sport City Velo) in the Under 16 TT. Jake kept his cool and took the next two events to win the overall gold medal. Seb took second overall with Edwyn Oliver-Evans (East Bradford) taking a commendable third.

Under 16 Omnium
Luke Simpson (Leeds St Christophers) produced a fast time trial to take the first event but Herschel Stevens (Triangle RT) found his form in time to take the next two events to take gold. Luke took the silver with Nick Barnes (Seacroft Wheelers) only one point behind to take the bronze. The girl’s event produced a tie between Rebecca Womersley (Sowerby Bros RT), the very talented Future Star rider, and Aisla Stainthorpe (Leeds Mercury). With the time trial time being used as the decider in the event of a tie, Ailsa’s faster time gave her first place with Rebecca coming second. Alice Oliver-Evans (East Bradford CC) came third overall despite her second place in the time trial.

Mandy Parker, the organiser, would like to thank all the volunteers who helped out, all the providers of buns and cakes, and especially the park staff, Shaun Gregory (Commercial Manager), Chris (Senior Ranger) and John Roebuck (Head gardener). The West Riding Track League faced closure this year but with a much stronger volunteer base and an improved track, thanks to the work done by Roundhay Park, the league has started to grow. Running the regional championships was one of the first steps to rejuvenating the league with plans now under discussion to start regular training sessions and put forward a lottery bid to buy track bikes in order to develop further.

If you want to ride at Roundhay on summer Mondays, check out the website at http://www.cycleroundhay.co.uk and come and join us.