Emily Nelson takes Silver medal For Lichfield City CC.

^{Lichfield’s Emily Nelson rode a fantastic race which gained her a well deserved podium place in the U14 girls event.}

Boxing Day saw the traditional Kenilworth cyclo-cross meet, which was well attended. Any ice left on the course was salted away for the competitors but the spectators had to deal with a massive slab of treacherous ice in the main viewing area.

Last Sunday saw two youth riders, Will Davies and Emily Nelson both from Lichfield City Cycling Club, travel to Budleigh Salterton in Devon for the first round of the National Trophy Cyclo Cross Series.

Alex Welburn who recently joined Lichfield City Cycling Club travelled up to the Lake District at the weekend to take part in the 9th annual Grizedale Mountain Bike Challenge.

Over 630 competitors battled it out over a gruelling 34 mile course that took in nearly 6000 feet of climbing.

Last Sunday was the start of the West Midlands Cyclo Cross League with the first event in the highly technical Pitcher Oak Woods in Redditch. Lichfield City Cycling Club were there supporting this event and most of the Lichfield riders got a good start with some exceptional performances.

Perseverance eventually paid off for Whittington’s Steve Clayton when he took his first National title at the National Masters Track Championships at Newport last weekend. Steve Clayton took the mens scratch race by the scruff of the neck to secure his first ever gold medal in a National Championship. Forcing a three man brake in the latter stages the three stayed away with Clayton too strong for the other two in the sprint for the line. After being so close for several years Steve finally got his just rewards for all the hours of training when he climbed on to the top step of the podium to receive his gold medal and national champions jersey. And he nearly followed it up with another in the points race but despite fighting to the end had to settle for silver. Steve could easily have come home with a medal from all the events he entered missing out in the 750 time trial by 4/10ths of a second and after a personal best of 3:41 in the 3km pusuit he was again just short of a medal by 2/10ths of a second.

Also competing at the National Championships were Ed Coppinger, Paul Askey and Graham Truelove. Unfortunately all three narrowly missed out on podium places. Ed rode a superb pusuit to post a new PB and Paul qualified 3rd fastest in the sprint but was unlucky to get eliminated in the heats. Graham was still suffering the effects of his fall the previous week and wasn’t able to produce his usual form. All 4 look to take the form forward to the European Championships in Manchester in 3 weeks time.

Steve also organises the youth races at Curborough and his success will be an inspiration to many of those who were competing last Saturday. And like at Newport velodrome there was plenty for the Lichfield club to celebrate. In the under 8’s Daniel Cooper won the time trial was second in the first race then won the third. Josie Nelson was the best girl, mixing it with the boys, to finish ahead of Sarah Marnoch. Adam Stanley and Will State were also at the forefront of affairs in all three races and there were some tremendous performances from young Connor Smith who despite being 6 was only just behind. In the under 10’s Harry Yates took the first bunch event but had no answer to Lucy Nelson who stuck it to the boys by winning the final race. Another newcomer, Charlie Cox, gave a very good account of himself sticking with the leaders until he couldn’t hang on any longer. In the under 12’s Josh Nelson finished strongly in the first bunch race. Relative newcomer Rosie Cox is developing week by week and showed her potential battling it out with Emily Capewell in each of the races. Also showing great improvement are Matthew Sisley, Jonathon Groves and James Roberts who worked hard driving a small group that finished just behind the leaders.

The under 14 and 16’s are combined in a race that lasts around an hour and it is a pretty tough experience for our first year under 14’s. Jacob Kelly just missed out in the sprint by half a wheel. Emily Nelson was matching the eventual winner of he girls but had to pull out half way through. Isabelle Clarke and Tiffany Fletcher worked hard pacing each other and Isabelle showed great determination after being dropped in the closing laps to fight back and pip Tiffany on the line and take 2nd place.

They all know look to do it all again at Curborough this weekend.

Last Saturday saw the start of three consecutive weekends of racing at the Curborough circuit with Sutton’s CC Giro club’s annual event. The day began with a one hour race and produced the best performance from local riders. Lee Westwood, junior rider Stewart Clayton, and James Newey, who’s not yet 16 but got dispensation to ride, set about the field from the start. The three covered every move and Westwood and Clayton got in a couple of breakaways themselves. Also, Newey wasn’t out of place though and rode strongly throughout. With all the breakaway attempts nullified the race came down to a bunch finish. All three local riders were in contention until with 2 laps remaining Newey was bought down in a crash at the hairpin. Westwood and Clayton avoided the melee to contest the finish, narrowly missing out on honours. It was disappointing as both had ridden really well with Lee Westwood clearly the class rider in the field.

Last weekend Lichfield City Cycling Clubs young riders descended on Shrewsbury Sports village for the Midland circuit race championships on the Sundorne circuit. The morning began under grey skies and rain but nothing was going to get in the way of Staffordshires Lewis Askey who took the under 8’s race by the scruff of the neck from the start of the race. Awesome is the only way to describe how young Lewis rode as one by one he lapped all the riders bar one during the 10 lap race to take the division title. There could not have been a better start for the Lichfield team as Josie Nelson, who gets better race by race, took the girls title and is certainly one to watch for the future. There was also an excellent performance from Adam Stanley riding only his second ever race who finished just outside the medals.

Text messages were flying as the coaches tried to keep up with the progress of the Staffordshire cycling clubs young cyclists who were competing in events up and down the country.

Under 14 cyclist Jacob Kelly began the weekend when he set off from his Staffordshire home at 9am on Saturday, with his father Phil, at the start of the 70 mile Wetherby to Filey Great Yorkshire Bike ride. The ride which takes place every year raises money for selected charities.

Meanwhile, at Halesowen, Staffordshire's Emily and Sophie Capewell were warming up in preparation for the 3rd qualifying round of the National Youth Track Omnium. The cyclists compete in 4 events, this time a 400m time trial, a scratch race, points race and a match sprint. Despite being the youngest in the field Lichfield's Sophie set the 2nd fastest time just behind Leicester’s Grace Garner. Such is the ability of the girls in the under 12 age group that only Joel Partington who is based at the National Velodrome in Manchester could break into the top six. Despite not being far behind on time Emily found herself in 14th of the 21riders,still a very commendable performance. In the bunch events the benefit of coming from a club who are based at a track facility was clearly apparent but the Lichfield sisters fought hard and Sophie managed to score in the points race. In the match sprints Sophie finished 3rd to gain more points and Emily moved up the results with an excellent win in her heat. Overall Sophie was 6th and Emily 16th and both now look forward to improving at the next round at Stoke in 2 weeks time.

By this time Jacob had completed his ride and was rapidly putting liquid and food back into his body in readiness for the penultimate round of the British Schools Cycling Championships, the time trial over a 10 mile course in Cleveland.