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Northern Omnium Manchester
Posted June 15, written By Ian Bury (organiser) | Round 12, Youth Racing At Its Finest!
The Youth Omnium returned to Manchester after a number of years of exile to the Northern outdoor tracks. Eastlands Velo/Sportcity Velo co-ordinated the event and as well as having a top venue, we had a top team of people that made the event really hum. A full compliment of operations staff had every bend covered; the electronic scoreboard captured the youngster’s dreams by showing their names in each event.
Matt Winston provided race commentary during the day that added the real World Cup (cycling) feel that we had planned for the day. An omnium is a combination of four events on the track testing sprint, endurance and race brain. The event also served as a qualifying round for the National Omnium Final in August when the top eight riders from each region (North, Midlands and South) challenge for gold medals.
Four categories raced (Under 10, Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16) with the Under 10s and 12s being a boys and girls mixed event and the Under 14s/Under 16s having separate male and female categories. The event proved very popular too with 73 riders turning up to race and race they did!
Timed Sprint Events
With riders on 4 stations around the track, with electronic timing on each station transmitting directly to the scoreboard as the efforts unfolded. The under 10 riders had to race 250m from a standing start and for some riders this was their first ever competitive race. Nerves were soon dispelled as the riders put down some excellent times.
Smiling faces showed that week of worry was not necessary as each rider gave it their all and the times showed we were in for a great afternoon of racing!
The Under 12’s had the increased distance of 500m (2 laps of the track) to race. The best was saved until last as in the final heat, Reece Wood from the Aire Valley Road Team produced a great time showing that he can sprint on indoor tracks as well as on the outdoor tracks.
Race distance increased for the final time to a Kilo and in the Under 14 girls there was a small but very competitive field. Melissa Lowther of Wakefield Tri club put down the fastest time closely followed by Clare Gore who needed oxygen after her effort (all ok though!). The Under 14 boys race saw race speeds up again and Joe Evans of the Newcastle Racing Team put the fastest time by almost a second from Charlie Tanfield of Velo 29.
Outstanding Kilo of the Under 16 girls came from Jess Crampton (Sportcity Velo) who posted a time 3 seconds faster than the 2nd position, Melissa Bury also of Sportcity Velo. The Under 16 boys Kilo was fierce with four riders posting times under 1min 10seconds which on Under 16 gears is extremely impressive showing the talent we have in the region. The winning ride went to Matt Rotherham of Sportcity Velo.
Scratch Races
In the Under 10s category with some of the riders very new to track racing it was fantastic to see effort and commitment and really close racing. Lewis Hartley of Eastlands Velo took the win from Umead Khaled also of Eastlands Velo.
In the Under 12s, Reece Wood just beat Matthew Walls of Eastlands Velo in a battle that continued throughout the afternoon. Emma Brady of the Hetton Hawks, our only female competitor was particularly active in this event.
The Under 14 girls and Under 16 girls raced was combined and made for interesting viewing as the two categories were racing two races within one event with Lauren O’Brien of the Under 14s managing to clip off the front and surprising the bunch, winning both the Under 16s and her own category as well.
In the Under 16 boys, as expected, the racing was quick! The win was taken by Matthew Rotherham and actually the top four spots were occupied by Sportcity Velo Riders.
Keirin
The Derny motorbike was introduced to the riders for the Keirin and it was our Under 10 girl Alesha’s best experience of the day expressing to her dad how she loved riding behind the motorbike.
A number of false starts and a couple of very minor crashes slowed the excellent time keeping of the program down a little but nothing that troubled the organisers or the medics who were very quiet on the day showing the technical skills of the riders on show.
Devil
The final event of the day was the Devil take the hindmost an event which could put the omnium placings on their head if a rider was eliminated early. As race organiser, I was particularly nervous about this event as the tight Manchester track can catch riders out if concentration slips.
I shouldn’t have been worried as the audience was wowed with excellent track skills! Event of the age group was the Under 16 boys again which was almost a track limit which meant the race was hard and long with 1 rider eliminated per lap. The official’s faces at the end showed that they had just witnessed a fabulous Under 16 spectacle in the devil.
Highlights for me of the day were:
1. The young people marvelling at their names on the scoreboards, who knows they maybe on the board in the future.
2. The officials really encouraging the riders and making sure the day was a positive one for the riders, the parents and the helpers , an obviously well drilled unit!
3. The number of thank you’s which were said and the number of smiles/laughs throughout the day.
4. The number of girls racing I think is on the increase!
5. Four of our ‘older’ youth riders (older than 16, younger than 20) which had gone through the Eastlands system were allocated special duties throughout the task and contributed to the running of the operation. Sean, Callum, Marc will become the volunteers of the future already starting to do their coaching qualifications.
Paul Hewitt Cycles, Leyland very generously donated a large number of quality prizes which continued to show their commitment to competitive cycling, so large was the prize fund was that a number of spot prizes were able to be awarded recognising the efforts of the young people on and off the track.
The overall results are on the results sheets but I can say there were lots of winners today not just the ones that ride bikes! Parents, helpers, timers, results producers, gear checkers all scored at the world cup for me today!
Results
Youth D
1 Lewis Hartley Eastlands Velo
2 Umuead Khaled Eastlands Velo
3 Scott Slack Eastlands Velo
4 Luke Cheetham Eastlands Velo
5 Aleshia Mellor Eastlands Velo
6 Muead Khaled Eastlands Velo
Youth C
1 Matthew Walls Eastlands Velo
2 Reece Wood Aire Valley RT
3 Leighton Sharman Eastlands Velo
4 Thomas Mein Hetton Hawks
5 Adam Hartley Eastlands Velo
6 Adam Stobbart Edinburgh Racers
7 James Helsby Eastlands Velo
8 Emma Brady Hetton Hawks
9 Calum Shackley Glasgow Riderz
10 Harry White Dinnington RC
11 Andrew Merry Discovery Junior CC
12 Oliver Martin Eastlands Velo
Youth B Girls
1 Lauren O'Brien Wakefield Junior Tri
2 India Penrice Sportcity Velo
3 Melissa Lowther Wakefield Junior Tri
4 Clare Gore Sportcity Velo
5 Flora Gillies Peebles Cycling Club
6 Victoria Kinrade Royal London 360 Isle of Man
Youth B Boys
1 Joe Evans Newcastle Racing Club NCRC 2001
2 Charlie Tanfield Velo29
3 Billy Harding Paul Milnes/Bradford Olympic
4 Fabio Close www.sub7bikes.co.uk
5 Ryan Ellison Eastlands Velo
6 Sean Mcgovern Eastlands Velo
7 Finn Harrod Discovery Junior CC
8 Thomas Rotherham Sportcity Velo
9 Joey Walker Dinnington R.C.
1 David Bolland Liverpool Mercury
11 Rhys Donnelly Glasgow Riderz
12 Alistair Merry Discovery Junior CC
13 Thomas McCann Eastlands Velo
Youth A Girls
1 Jessica Crampton Eastlands Velo
2 Jess Anderson Sportcity Velo
3 Melissa Bury Sportcity Velo
4 Megan Boyd Sportcity Velo
5 Katie Noakes Sportcity Velo
6 Jessica O'Brien Wakefield Junior Tri
7 Jessie Walker Dinnington R.C.
8 Robyn Bolland Liverpool Mercury
Youth A Boys
1 Matthew Rotherham Sportcity Velo
2 Harry Tanfield Velo29
3 Chris Latham Sportcity Velo
4 Chris Lawless Sportcity Velo
5 Jake Ragan Sportcity Velo
6 James Berryman Sportcity Velo
7 Josh Penrice Sportcity Velo
8 Tom Arnstein Veloecosse
9 Angus Gillies Peebles Cycling Club
10 Jacob Scott Holme Valley Wheelers
11 Oliver Wood Aire Valley RT
12 Ryan Whatmough Shepherds Cycles
13 Stuart McClusky VC Glasgow South
14 Lewis Barry Sportcity Velo
15 Mark Stewart Discovery Juniors
16 Alex Taylor Sportcity Velo
17 Adam Crowther Perth United Cycling Club
18 Lewis Garrity Eastlands Velo
19 Daniel Dickinson Dinnigton RC
20 Charlie Wilson Discovery Juniors
21 Robbie Spence Discovery Juniors
22 Josh Moulson Sportcity Velo
