This is a reminder that tickets are still available for the Club Prize presentation and Buffet on Saturday February 11th in the Collingwood Suite at Gosling Sports Park at 1-00pm. Tickets cost  £11 (£7 for under 14’s) are available from Peter Waghorn, Francis Gallacher and Andy Evans. 

The Club Cyclo-cross Championship will be held at GSP in the morning with races for Youth U14/U16, U12’s and Junior/Senior. U14/U16 races will start at 09.30, U12’s at 10.30 and Junior/Senior at 11.00am.
 
The Prize Presentation will celebrate another good year for the club. See here for list of prize winners for 2011. The winners of those trophys where no name has been assigned will be announced on the day.

Peter Waghorn 

After the challenge of two years in the Junior ranks, Welwyns Tom Gallagher talent has been recruited by a new Professional UK Based Cycling Team - Metaltek–Scott.

A number of Welwyn riders took part in major track events during October - the National Track Championships and the World Masters Track Championships - both at Manchester.

At the Nationals, Laura Trott took silver in the individual pursuit and points race and a bronze in the Senior 500m TT. Vicki
Williamson, still a Junior, took bronze in the sprint and was 6th in the Senior 500m TT.

A well drilled Welwyn Junior team of Josh Maynard, George Farrell, George Farrell and Alex Anderson, took part in the team pursuit. Although their time (4:44:586) was slower than many it was still a club record. Josh and Alex also took part in the Junior Madison but retired at half-distance (60 of 120 laps!).

U14 Joe Fry qualified for the Boys Youth madison final with partner Jack Hoyle of Team Terminator where they came 9th. Four teams made up of Welwyn girls rode in the Girls Youth Madison with Lucy Harper (WW) and Abigail Dentus (Palmer Park) finishing best in 6th place in front of Bethany Hayward (WW) and Keira McVitty (Kings Cliffe Flyers) (7th), Kim English (WW) and Emily Barnes (Rapha Condor) (10th) and Chloe Evans (WW) and Emily Haycox (Maindy Flyers) (11th).

In the same weekend Joe Fry, Kim English and Bethany Hayward were selected for the National Talent Team squad.

Claire Newland took gold and defended her title in her age group in the individual pursuit at the World Masters. Her qualification time of 2.32.347 was less than a second slower than the world best ever. More details here .

Late on this month, Laura Trott has been selected for the womens endurance squad for the European Track Championships that take place 21 to 23 October in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

The National Derny Paced Championship was run on Saturday at Herne Hill Velodrome and a fantastic ride by Wheelers Claire Newland earned her a Silver medal in the 10 mile Womens event.

Claire was paced by Wheelers David Scott and after a steady start the pairing moved up into a challenging second place with 7 laps to go - just a bike length behind the leader, Hannah Walker (Motorpoint Procycling). As they went into the final lap they made their bid for the victory but despite a brave effort were unable to get on terms with the leader but took a well deserved second place.
 
In the world cycling headlines was former Welwyn Wheeler Andrew Fenn, representing Great Britain in the Worlds Under 23 Road race Championship in Copenhagen on Friday. Andrew made a bold bid for victory in the last few metres of the race but had to settle for a magnificent Bronze medal in the bunch sprint which ended the race. His first World Championship medal
 
Andrew`started his career with the club as a schoolboy and still holds a number of club records. He moved down to Kent a few years before riding in Europe but still keeps contact with the club. He will be riding for the pro team Omega Pharma Quick Step in 2012.

A good season of racing despite the loss of four meetings due to rain. Racing in the Senior A League was some of the fastest ever with the most rapid event being the ‘Odds and Evens’ 10 lap Block Pursuit where the pace often decimated the field to a handful of riders on each side of the track.

A number of prominent and point scoring Group B riders were promoted into the senior group through the season to extend their experience.

In the well supported youth series, run as three ability groups, the highest rider numbers were in the CDE section competing in primarily a series of handicap races.

The competition for top rider in the BC group went down to the final race with just one point separating the top two.

The points payout this year was a record - £3 per point for seniors and £1 per point for youth riders.

Those riders who missed the final meeting are invited to claim their winnings by sending their track numbers to Event Organiser Peter Waghorn by December 31st. (29 Brockswood Lane, Welwyn Garden City AL8 7BE)

Thanks to the riders for making this a good, well supported series and to the event officials who make it all happen each week.

See here for the final positions and point totals.

Peter Waghorn