It feels along way away now but way back on Saturday 20th August we headed over to the National Youth Omnium Championships in Derby. Over the season, riders had taken part in local omniums, where their best two results counted
towards their omnium ranking, and the top 24 riders took part in the final.
Because I clean swept two of the omniums I did, I qualified joint top of the rankings. So was going into the competition as a favourite, although following a long season, I must admit I wasn’t feeling a favourite!
The omnium format was similar to all of the rounds, the only difference being a keirin instead of match sprints, though in the end we didn’t have to do that.
The first race was the Kilo. As I was top of the rankings, I was off last. I really wanted to set a personal best, but unfortunately with Derby not being a quick track and tired legs after my week in Newport meant I was a little way behind with a 1:08. This put me sixth. Not what I wanted, but a 1:08 was still quick, and
I had the 1:07.1 in the bag from London, so that was fine.
Next up was the Scratch. Our race was delayed massively, as a crash eight minutes into the U16 girls scratch meant we were sat waiting for an ambulance for quite a long time. Once all this was sorted, the girls finished their race, and we got going with ours. Not a lot happened during the race, until Seb Grindley attacked solo and stayed away, almost lapping the bunch. I rolled in seventh.
The next race was the Devil. My least favourite track race. And a change in the usual rules didn’t help. A proper Elimination has riders being eliminated every two laps, but the commissaire chose to make it every lap, meaning even more chaos than usual. Due to the speed of the race from the gun, if you started near the back, it was impossible to come round the group, so you’d be out soon. This meant I finished seventeenth. Not ideal at all.
Next up was supposed to be the keirin, but it was cut out of the programme, as there wasn’t enough track time left after the crash. I would’ve done quite well in this, but that’s pretty much a summary of my day.
The final race was the points. A last opportunity to move up the rankings. By this point I had nothing left in my legs, and my cones on my rear wheel were so tight it wouldn’t spin. Spare wheel on, I scored a couple of points in earlier sprints, but nothing too major. This left me tenth overall, which I’m pretty pleased with, all things considered. It could’ve been better, but it definitely could’ve been a lot worse. Thank you to everyone who came to support me on the day, and speedy recovery to Carys.
School Games 2023
After a few days Holiday in South Wales and getting my GCSE results I was back on the road to Loughborough for the School Games 2023. I had enjoyed the competition back in 2022 and whilst I was looking forward to it I still felt pretty exhausted from the season. I skipped the North West Tour to try and regain some legs but heading on up the M1 I was unsure of what I had left in the tank.
Day 1 was Track – back at Derby. I was riding for the Eastern team, something I am always proud of, and I had some great team mates in Henry Hobbs, Tom Mead and Ethan Storti. After a bit of a crazy start following the illegal non black shorts, we got going. I was down to do the Points Race, Longest Lap, Team Pursuit and the Madison.
The Points race was OK and I was really pleased to see Ethan head off in the break and get a well deserved 4th place. The longest lap was its normally craziness. I managed to stay in for the lap but the legs just were not there. Madison was well Mad. Ethan and I continued with our nationals pairing, the race was blown apart early by the Welsh and fair-play they were impressive, we came 4th. Finally the Team Pursuit, a race we rarely do. We felt we had a good chance but from the gun we set off and unfortunately Ethan’s foot came loose, he raised his hand but to no avail the com said continue so we did and still managed a respectable time with just the three of us.
Day 2 – Streets Sprints and Crits. On campus for the day we had a morning of street sprints, a short course with two tight bends we set off on the ITT. I managed to rank 5th overall and then had to race off in the heats. I certainly faired better than the previous year, knowing the course made such a difference, and managed to finish top 10 overall. The Crits were less successful, my bike was creaking the Bottom Bracket sounded less than happy and I needed to nurse it through to the next day. Also the wheels I had ridden in 2022 were deemed illegal in 2023. Not my day what with shorts and now wheels! Finish of the day and down for food – the food is great at Loughborough, and then on to the Opening Ceremony, which was a lot of fun and the fireworks were amazing.
Day 3 – Slawston. Final day and back to Slawston and the Slawstonberg. As a Team we had a plan to try and stay in and get me to the finish to see what I had left. As it happened neither bits of the plan worked. A break went early with Seth Dunwoody in it, he soloed round for around 3 laps before being caught by another strong break. I had missed the move, my team stayed with me but unfortunately I had little left at the end and rolled in, in what was left of the Peloton, the off season was calling me.
Back home and 6th Form started, I eventually had some time off the bike, the first time in about 18 months. My A-Levels of Maths, Further Maths, Physics and PE were kicking off and were proving to be challenging but also fun. In between my, off season, I did manage a race at Colchester – lapping the field and winning the sprint. Won the scratch at Welwyn and then the icing on the cake, went to Calshott for my final NSR where I received my GB Jersey.
Special thanks must go to my coach Owen, who has been amazing throughout, my sponsors who have supported me to race with the very best kit, my family for their support. On now to try and make it on to the GB Junior Academy. Wish me luck!
Gilbank Racing 