The first of the new year’s club championships was held on Monday at Aldersley Leisure Village – The Roller Contest.
Or as many say the ‘Race to Nowhere’.
This event may be the shortest the riders under take, but is also the most intense!
Here is the basic criteria:
Youth (under 16 yr olds) cover 250M from a flying start and 500M from a standing start.
Junior, Seniors, Veterans and Ladies cover 500M from a flying start and 1,000M from a standing start.
The time for each distance is added to give a total to decide the winner.
Two riders compete at a time on competition rollers which are connected to individual pointers on a large display board – ‘Simples’.
Riders are also restricted on the size of gearing they can use, so making this event a test of skill and ‘suplesse’ not just brute strength!
The youth riders were comparatively young this year, with defending champion Will Farmer moving up to Junior level, a new Champion was set to be crowned.
After the first round the running order was set and Ray Lovell held a 1.28 second advantage over Niamh Fletcher the leading girl.
Into the finals held as a ‘Head to Head’ clash with each rider facing their opponent it is always a tough call!
The ride off for third place saw Oliver Ward (under 12 age group) take the honors ahead of young Joshua Wood (under 10 age group).
Both finalists were in the under 14 category and Ray extended his earlier advantage over Niamh to clinch the Youth title.
The Senior/Junior/Veterans race was quite close after the first round, with Defending Champion Seb Bacon holding a minute lead of 0.07 seconds over former Champion and veteran Steve White.
Will Farmer held a 1.37 second advantage over Zak White to defend third place going into the ride off for third place.
However, Zak pulled out a strong finish to reverse the earlier positions and claim third position for himself. I commendable ride considering he was slightly under geared and riding his fixed wheel track bike.
The final saw a head to head of two riders both Seb & Steve having been twice champions….
Seb rode exceptionally well to come out a clear winner in a time that was only marginally greater than twice his flying 500M result. Quite remarkable as the 1,000 M is from a standing start!
Steve had the consolation of finishing ahead of many of the younger riders and so clinch the Veterans award for yet anther tear.
Many thanks to all those who helped set up, hold up, time keep, record and clear away again.