The third day of competition at the National Cycling Centre saw four titles decided – the under 16 girls' sprint, the under 16 boys' points race and the junior men's scratch race – but kicked off with the conclusion of the under 16 boys’ sprint.
Under 16 Girls Sprint
Day three of the National Youth & Junior Track Championships kicked off with qualifying for the Under 16 Girls Sprint. Despite an unorthodox approach, Charlotte Broughton of Leicestershire Road Club was the first rider under 13 seconds with a 12.960.
That time was eclipsed by Under 14 Sophie Capewell of Lichfield City who clocked a phenomenal 12.197 – just a shade under 7 hundredths of a second outside Rebecca James’ National Record. Set on an Under 16 gear, it isn’t an Under 14 record but that close to James’ record, it’s almost certainly the fastest 200m time set by an Under 14 rider.
There were still 5 riders to come but none of them came close to Capewell’s time. Hannah Blount of Derby Mercury came closest with a 12.489 with the final rider, Ellie Coster of Bush Healthcare a tenth of Blount’s pace with a 12.561 and yesterday’s Individual Pursuit Champion Grace Garner of RST fourth on 12.576.
All but one of the First Round heats went to the fastest qualifiers with Capewell, Blount, Coster, Garner and Broughton joined in the Second Round by Lucy Shaw of Solihull CC, the 7th fastest qualifier who beat Sophie’s older sister and team mate Emily, who had qualified 6th.
They were joined in the Quarter Finals – via a complicated two tier Repechage – by Emily Capewell and Sophie Black of Team Royal London 360 IoM.
The Capewell sisters had mixed fortunes – Sophie progressing to the Semi Finals in two rides, while Emily lost out to Blount, also in two. Coster had no need for a decider in her match with Shaw, but the Broughton and Garner heat was closer. Broughton went for a long one in the opening match and Garner couldn’t get back on terms, but she got the better of Broughton in the second match to take it to a decider, which Broughton took comfortably.
That was as far as it went, though – Broughton losing out to Capewell in two rides in the first of the Semis with Coster joining her in the Final – although Blount made her work for it in the second of their matches. Blount was on a roll and went on up in the Bronze medal ride against Broughton, who led out the second match but couldn’t make it stick. Bronze to Blount.
Coster led out the first of the two Final matches, but Capewell caught and passed her into turn 3 on the final lap. Capewell led out the second and Coster simply couldn’t get close.
British Cycling spoke to Capewell after the race and asked her how confident she’d been going in to the race. Did she think she could win the title? “I had a feeling, but – as an Under 14 I had a bit of extra work to do because I don’t race with these girls during the year and I’ve just moved up to the [Under 16] gear and I’m just amazed that I pulled it out.”
And that performance in qualifying? “I was kind of aiming for the record, because that’s something else I want” And with two years as an Under 16 to come, who’d bet against it?
200m Qualifying
1 Sophie Capewell Lichfield City CC 12.197
2 Hannah Blount Derby Mercury RC 12.489
3 Ellie Coster Bush Healthcare CRT 12.561
4 Grace Garner RST RT 12.576
5 Charlotte Broughton Leicestershire RC 12.69
6 Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC 12.933
7 Lucy Shaw Solihull CC 13.102
8 Sophie Black Tm Royal London 360 IoM 13.105
9 Abigail Dentus Welwyn Wheelers CC 13.219
10 Victoria Kinrade Tm Royal London 360 IoM 13.297
11 Lucy Harper Welwyn Wheelers CC 13.305
12 Sallie Birchall Lyme RC 13.335
13 Flora Gillies Peebles CC 13.698
14 Laura Cheesman Prestige Velo Club 13.787
15 Bethany Maunders Cardiff JIF 14.386
16 Megan Lewis Palmer Park Velo RT 15.19
17 Naomi Johnston Clifton CC 16.102
First Round
Sophie Capewell Lichfield City CC
Sallie Birchall Lyme RC
Hannah Blount Derby Mercury RC
Lucy Harper Welwyn Wheelers CC
Naomi Johnston Clifton CC
Ellie Coster Bush Healthcare CRT
Victoria Kinrade Tm Royal London 360 IoM
Megan Lewis Palmer Park Velo RT
Grace Garner RST RT
Abigail Dentus Welwyn Wheelers CC
Bethany Maunders Cardiff JIF
Charlotte Broughton Leicestershire RC
Sophie Black Tm Royal London 360 IoM
Laura Cheesman Prestige Velo Club
Lucy Shaw Solihull CC
Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC
Flora Gillies Peebles CC
Repechages
Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC
Bethany Maunders Cardiff JIF
Sophie Black Tm Royal London 360 IoM
Laura Cheesman Prestige Velo Club
Sallie Birchall Lyme RC
Abigail Dentus Welwyn Wheelers CC
Flora Gillies Peebles CC
Naomi Johnston Clifton CC
Victoria Kinrade Tm Royal London 360 IoM
Megan Lewis Palmer Park Velo RT
Lucy Harper Welwyn Wheelers CC
Repechage Finals
Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC
Victoria Kinrade Tm Royal London 360 IoM
Sophie Black Tm Royal London 360 IoM
Abigail Dentus Welwyn Wheelers CC
Quarter Finals
Sophie Capewell Lichfield City CC **
Sophie Black Tm Royal London 360 IoM
Hannah Blount Derby Mercury RC **
Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC
Ellie Coster Bush Healthcare CRT **
Lucy Shaw Solihull CC
Charlotte Broughton Leicestershire RC **
Grace Garner RST RT *
Semi Finals
Sophie Capewell Lichfield City CC **
Charlotte Broughton Leicestershire RC
Ellie Coster Bush Healthcare CRT **
Hannah Blount Derby Mercury RC
5th to 8th Minor Final
5 Lucy Shaw Solihull CC
6 Grace Garner RST RT
7 Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC
8 Sophie Black Tm Royal London 360 IoM
Finals
GOLD Sophie Capewell Lichfield City CC **
SILVER Ellie Coster Bush Healthcare CRT
BRONZE Hannah Blount Derby Mercury RC **
Charlotte Broughton Leicestershire RC
Under 16 Boys Sprint
The conclusion of the Under 16 Sprint competition looked like it would be a tight affair. The four Semi Finalists included the top three qualifiers – Jack Hoyle of Team Terminator, Leon Gledhill of BBM Revolution and Tom Rotherham – and fifth placed Tom Scammell of Newport Velo, who’d eliminated fourth placed Sean McGovern in yesterday’s Quarter Final – albeit at the third attempt. Over 200m there was less than two tenths between them. And they’d all looked very strong in match sprints.
As the later stages of the competition unfolded, things started to open up a little. Hoyle rode away from Scammell in both heats of his Semi Final and while Gledhill tried to go from the gun and time trial away from Rotherham in the other heat, Rotherham was just far too strong and rode straight past him.
Scammell was too strong for Gledhill and took the Bronze without needing a decider. The Gold medal ride, though, would be closer. Both riders had dominated almost every ride up until that point. But in both matches the story was exactly the same – Rotherham led out, using his power to surge away from Hoyle – who reeled him in and rode round him.
Both riders impressed throughout the competition and, while we didn’t get the ding-dong battle we were hoping for in the Final, we did get an impressive display of power and speed from Hoyle and the prospect of seeing these two do battle again over the next couple of years.
Hoyle was surprised, too, at the relative ease of his win in the Final after two days of competiton. “I recovered quite well from the first day and started the second day fresh again – and I only have to do four rides. Tom was looking really good – I was quite worried coming in to the final against him because he looked really strong. But I just rode the way I’d ridden the other races – just did the standard things I do – and it paid off in the Final.”
He’ll need those powers of recovery again tomorrow with the 500m Time Trial and the Junior Keirin on the same day…
Semi Finals
Jack Hoyle Team Terminator **
Thomas Scammell Newport Youth Velo CC
Thomas Rotherham Sport City Velo **
Leon Gledhill BBM Revolution CC
Finals
GOLD Jack Hoyle Team Terminator **
SILVER Thomas Rotherham Sport City Velo
BRONZE Thomas Scammell Newport Youth Velo CC **
Leon Gledhill BBM Revolution CC
Under 16 Boys Points Race
Tristan Robbins of Cardiff JIF was 5th in yesterday’s Under 16 Sprint Minor Final – just missing out on a place in today’s Semi Final stage – which was probably just as well. He took the opening sprint of the Points race from Joe Evans of Velocity, Charlie Tanfield of Velo29 and Leon Gledhill of BBM Revolution.
Tanfield took the second from Gledhill, James Shaw of Forme Bikes and Christian Braybrooke of Velocity - and took the overall lead as they headed for Sprint 3. Robbins takes took that one from Levi Moody of Pedalsport, Shaw and Fabio Close – the third Velocity rider to score points. Robbins now led Tanfield by three points, the field was together and the pace had slowed.
Joe Wiltshire of Cwmcarn Paragon broke away with Matthew Gibson of Warrington, but Gibson faded. Tanfield joined Wiltshire at the head of the race and took second in the fourth sprint to sit on top of the leaderboard, tied on points with Robbins with two sprints to go.
Gibson then tried to get away again for the penultimate sprint but he couldn’t stay away and it was Joe Fry of Welwyn Wheelers who took the five points with Gledhill, Shaw and Close taking the rest.
That left Gledhill just three points behind the leaders and with a good chance of a medal and an outside shot at the title. Joel Partington of Sportcity Velo took the final sprint, with Robbins on his shoulder as he crossed the line. Evans took third and Gledhill secured the Bronze with fourth place.
But that second place secured the Championship for Robbins with Tanfield taking the Silver medal.
On the track, Robbins was clearly delighted but afterwards, talking to British Cycling, he was in reflective mood. “I’m very pleased. It’d good - I’ve wanted a National title, basically, since I started cycling – so I’m pleased I’ve finally got one.
“I’ve been progressing – getting better and better – and it’s one of those things – for every time you win a cycling race there’s 9 times when you come in the top 10 – not quite there… nearly there… and I’ve finally pulled it off on the day, which I really wanted to do.”
“At the UK School Games I proved I had the power to be there or thereabouts on the track. Unfortunately, in the middle of the season I had to have an operation that set me back a bit, but I finally got back on form – I missed a major chunk of the season – but I think that’s helped me to learn how to race better, without just relying on pure power and speed and I’ve used those new tactics and they set me up well for today..”
GOLD Tristan Robbins Cardiff JIF 13
SILVER Charlie Tanfield Velo29 Cycling Team 10
BRONZE Leon Gledhill BBM Revolution CC 8
4 Joe Evans Velocity RT 7
5 James Shaw Forme Bikes UK 6
6 Joel Partington Sports City Velo 5
7 Joseph Fry Welwyn Wheelers CC 5
8 Joseph Wiltshire Cwmcarn Paragon RC 5
9 Levi Moody Pedalsport CC 3
10 Fabio Close Velocity RT 2
11 Christian Braybrooke Velocity RT 1
12 Matthew Gibson Warrington RC 1
13 Jack Escritt Fred Williams Cycles
14 Ben Chapman Team Corley Cycles
15 Alexander Braybrooke Velocity RT
16 Jacob Kelly Lichfield City CC
17 Karl Baillie Witham Wheelers CC
18 Sean Noon Edinburgh RC
19 Joey Walker RST RT
20 Luke Morgan Welwyn Wheelers CC
21 Fabian Brennan Salt Ayre Cog Set
22 Stuart Balfour Edinburgh RC
23 Louis Magnani Prestige Velo Club
24 Harry Crew Derby Mercury RC
Junior Men’s Scratch Race
The Junior Men’s Scratch Race took a while to get going, but it was worth the wait. 50 laps in and the race was still together and progressing at a brisk – but certainly not frantic – pace. With 30 to go, Sam Lowe of Hargroves Cycles broke out from the bunch and started to pull away. He didn’t get far and the break didn’t last long, but for two laps the pace was dramatically quicker.
With 20 to go there were seven riders away but, again, they didn’t stay away for long and the race was back together again within a couple of laps. But as things came back together Jacob Ragan of Champion Systems and Zachary May of Cardiff JIF got away and started to pull ahead.
And they continued to pull ahead. The pack was chasing but they couldn’t make a dent in Ragan and May’s lead and with 12 to go the pace eased off. Two laps later they made the junction to the back of the bunch and the top two steps of the podium were theirs – all that was left was for them to fight among themselves for Gold and for someone to make a bid for the Bronze.
At the bell Ragan and team mates Chris Lawless and Chris Latham were at the front of the race with May unable to find the legs to move through the bunch. Latham won the bunch sprint – and the Bronze – and Ragan, a couple of places back, bagged the Gold.
After the race Ragan spoke to British Cycling “I felt really good. I’ve put in a lot of track work over the last couple of months and it’s paid off. I took my opportunity with 15 or 20 laps to go and managed to take the lap with Zach (May).
“It was really cagey for the first 40 or 50 laps – nobody wanted to take it up – and I think Sam Lowe attacked and that sort of kick started everything, ignited the fire and attacks started flying and as it slowed down I hit out with Zach and got the gap. We held it for a few laps and then the group slowed down and we managed to get on the back of it and got the lap.
Did he plan to take the lap? “No – the plan was really just to take the race by the scruff of the neck and take my chances. If there was a chance I’d take it, but if there wasn’t I’d to wait for the sprint. The chance arose and I took it...”
GOLD Jacob Ragan Champion System
SILVER Zachery May Cardiff JIF
BRONZE Christopher Latham Champion System -1
4 Harry Tanfield Teamwallis CHH RT -1
5 Samuel Lowe Hargroves Cycles -1
6 Andy Shackel VC St Raphael -1
7 Jacob Scott Planet X -1
8 Adam Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers -1
9 Will Stephenson Primera-Specialized -1
10 Luc Hall Team Shinybikes.com -1
11 Chris Lawless Champion System -1
12 Oliver Wood Sportscover Altura RT -1
13 Kristian Woolf Prestige Velo Club -1
14 Mark Stewart Spokes RT -1
15 Callum Ferguson Halesowen A & CC -1
16 William Macke AW Cycles -1
17 Angus Gillies TheBicycleWorks.com -2
18 Harry Strudley AW Cycles -2
19 Tom Arnstein Spokes RT -3
DNF Taylor Cardus Velo29 Cycling Team
DNF Andrew Leigh Velocity RT
DNF Timothy Ryan Cardiff JIF
DNF William Thomas Velocity RT
DNF Alan Trolove West Suffolk Wheelers
