Youth
Cyclo-Cross Notts & Derby League Round 3 Report
First race up the under 10s with Megan and Joe Beckingsale. Meg went off like a rocket only to take a wrong turn when coming towards the end of the first lap. Joe third at the time but moved up to second and Meg went down to about 20th. Joe had a great ride finishing only 11 seconds behind the winner and Meg eventually finished third, a further 24 seconds back.
Next race the under 12s with Ben Beckingsale the only Abergavenny rider. A great start by Ben but slowly got pulled back to fight it out for third but eventually just lost out on the podium with a fourth placed finish.
Like Ben, Ffion was the only Abergavenny rider in the Youth race, on a very boring, long but tough course, with lots of climbing. 33 riders stated the race with once again some of the best young cross riders in the country turning up to the Notts and Derby league. As the laps were so long only 3 laps were completed by Ffion, who once again continued her recent fine form to come home 1st girl in 11th place overall.
Report by David James
Cyclo-Cross National Trophy Round 1 Report
Sam Beckingsale and Ffion were the the clubs only riders in the first round of the National Trophy Cyclocross earlier today (20/09/09) at Bicton Arena near Exeter (Megan rode in the under 12s race).
Instead of the youth races being the first race of the day, this year the youth races follow the Junior and Ladies race. So at 11.45 70 riders lined up on the start line for a flat out blast on a super fast dusty course. Sam was starting at the back of all the male riders and the girls were starting all together 30 seconds behind. At the sound of the gun the dust was everywhere and Sam came into the first corner in last but one place.
After a slow first lap finding his feet, Sam started picking up the pace and moving his way through the field. With so many riders all over the course it was difficult to tell where Sam was lying and coming over the finish line a top ten finish in the Under 14 boys looked like it had been achieved. On an examination of the results, Sam had actually progressed right up to 6th Under 14 boy, which was a great ride up against the best in the country.
With the girls starting 30 seconds behind the boys there was no chance for the best girls to get a tow off some of the boys on the ultra fast course but by mid-way through the first lap three under 16 girls were starting to pull away from the rest of the field. These three were the top three from last season's Trophy and were all last year under 16s but Ffion was looking really strong and not that far behind in about 8th place. With another lap gone Ffion was now up to 7th and was neck and neck with Grace Garner another under 14 girl. Coming into the hurdles, Ffion made an attack and started to pull away from Grace and looking comfortable in 6th place set her sights on chasing down Amy Roberts in 5th.
Coming around for the bell the gap was down to about 6 or 7 seconds but a bit of a mistake on the last lap meant that Ffion had to settle for 6th placed girl but only 13 seconds behind 5th. All five girls in front of Ffion were second year under 16s and Ffion's finishing time was only 2 mins 10 seconds behind the winner, National Champion Grace Garner.
So in Ffion's first ever National Trophy race, Ffion found herself on top of the podium as first under 14 girl but more impressively 6th girl overall beating all bar five of the under 16s. As Ffion and Sam got their breath back, Megan started her Under 12s race. Coming up the start finish straight just behind the two leaders in third, Megan lost her back wheel on the loose gravel and slipped back to 8th. At the bell lap she was up again to 5th but a real effort on the last lap meant that she finished 4th overall and first Under 10.
Report by David James