There were some great results in a busy weekend of racing with Henry Hobbs and Calum Moir achieving a brace of wins each at Hog Hill and the Herne Hill round of National Youth Omnium series, and Leon Atkins victorious in the South East Regional XC MTB Championships.
At Saturday’s Warm Up for the Nationals race at Hogg Hill, Calum and Henry gained victory by sprinting up the hill faster than the rest in their respective U14 and U16 boys categories. Ethan Storti finished 14th U16 and Rupert Cavill 5th U14. In the Junior boys category Immanuel Ndungu claimed a solid 9th place with Toby Brown in 21st.
Meanwhile Robin Steer, Sam Gilbert, Leon Atkins travelled to the Poole Wheelers Youth Omnium. Leon finished 3rd overall in the U14 boys category. Sam (12th) and Robin (14th) held their own finishing midway in a field of 24 on a hot day.
Sunday brought the renowned Herne Hill Youth Omnium where (like at Gosling) so many future track stars have been discovered. In a memorable day of action, highlights for the club included the combative nature of Elise Whitaker’s attacking riding (6th U14 girl); the resilience of Henry Barker who suffered a puncture at wrong time, stayed calm got it sorted and stuck back into the racing; Mark’s (7th U16 boy) brave solo effort off the front before the final sprint of the points race with Robin (10th U16 boy) trying to bridge over while Calum sat on the front of the bunch refusing to chase; Caitlin Loveless (7th U16 girl) also had a good day finishing 2nd in the U16 girls kieren and would have finished higher but for dropping points in the heat during the final points race.
The icing on the cake for the Wheelers came with the performances of Calum and Henry who have been unbeatable in Regional Omniums so far this season, winning 6 races on the day between them and the event overall.
At the South East Regional XC MTB Championships Leon won the Juvenile boys race with Fin Woodliffe in 8th place.
Finally, we are grateful for James Johnson for providing this TT update. Pete Waghorn has subsequently confirmed that this is a WW club record for the 50-59 age group.
I rode the VTTA National Championship 50 mile TT on Sunday 13th June on the F2 course. It was a hot day and I was one of the later starters, setting off at almost 11am in what was already very hot sunshine. My rehydration plan was going to be important! Conditions were good, without being super-fast, with a bit of a breeze from the west making the four east-bound legs of the course quite quick but harder work going the other way. Despite the heat I managed to stop the clock at 2:00:55. It was slightly disappointing not go go under 2 hours but it was a PB so I can’t complain. It was also a Welwyn Wheelers 50 mile time trial record for the 50-59 age category, subject to confirmation.