Wattbike racing at Lichfield’s youth and ladies event

Wattbikes a winner!

The ongoing inclement weather conditions failed to stop the recent craze of indoor cycling that is Wattbike racing.

22 riders gathered on Tuesday 12 January to participate in the first round of the Youth and Ladies Only event at Friary Grange Leisure Centre.  Once riders had been split into 3 groups the races began with the 500m Time Trial.

The Group 1 race was won by Georgia Tonks in 43.99 seconds but Rosie Cox’s finishing time of 44.00 seconds gave a hint of the night aheads results.  Bertie Newey finished in 31.86 seconds to take first win of the night ahead of William yde in 32.98 seconds in Group 2.  In Group 3 “The Ladies”, Sam Simms won in 37.42 seconds ahead of Debbie Yates in 40.73 seconds.

The evening’s second race was the ‘Scratch’, a distance race over 1500m to 2000m that tests pace and endurance of the riders.  A reversal of the placings in Group 1 saw Rosie Cox win ahead of Georgia Tonks.  Bertie Newey won again in Group 2 but Jacob Kelly followed him home just 1.9 seconds later.  In Group 3 meanwhile Sam Simms proved to be the stronger rider again but Sarah Cox sneaked into 2^nd place.

The 250m Team Sprint is a popular event with the riders and certainly proves to be an exciting race for spectators.  Riders are formed into teams of two based on their times in the first event.  It ensures close racing between the team and so it proved.  Special mention must go to Heather parlour who thought she had come to watch the event but was persuaded to ride the team sprint.

The penultimate event was the 500m Handicap.  Once again the results from race 1 are used to determine the starting order.  It effectively means the winner of race 1 will start the race last.  The potential is therefore that all riders will finish at the same time. It is however rare as other factors also come into play.  In a repeat of event 1 however, Georgia Tonks finished first, with Rosie Cox second.  Daniel Cooper was however pleased with himself to finish in 3^rd place.

This was an emotion clearly shared by Emily Capewell in Group 2.  Her yell of “I win” announced the result to everyone in the room.  Luke Selibas was second closely followed by Isabelle Clarke.

There was no such shout as Anne Robinson of Group 3 crossed the line, but 2^nd place Janice Hyde was certainly smiling at her own result.

The last event of the night was the Keirin.  In this race the riders are required to ride to a pace determined by a rider on an additional bike.  The pace speeds up until it reaches a pre-determined distance, at this point the riders are able to race flat out – first across the line wins.  It is a race of timing and tactics.

In group 1 Cox and Tonks occupied the first 2 positions ahead of 3^rd place Amie Parlour.

Group 2 was split into 2 separate groups so that the girls had their own race.  Sophie Capewell took first place ahead of Isabelle Clarke and Emily Capewell.  In the boy’s race, Jacob Kelly took first place to ensure he retained his crown of ‘King of the Keirin’.  He is unbeaten in a Keirin race on the Wattbikes.  Bertie Newey took second place ahead of Nick Selibas.

Sam Simms won the ladies race with Debbie Yates and Sarah Cox taking the next two placings.

The league takes place every Tuesday until March and the senior riders get their chance to ride on a Friday.

Further details are available on www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/wattbikes as are results and league standings.