Cyclist
‘I was ready to go and have a chippy’: National Track Championships highlights
The British National Track Championships took place in Manchester over the weekend, the first big test in the all important Olympic and Paralympic year, with the Paris Games only five months away. Cyclist popped by catch the action and get the lowdown from the riders.
Jenny Holl
Loughborough Lightning’s Jenny Holl had a spectacular weekend, winning two jerseys in the endurance categories of scratch and points races. Both races featured late attacks as she held off the chasing field.
On Friday’s scratch race, she said, ‘To be honest it couldn’t have gone any better. 100% [it was] nerve-wracking at the end, I was fully riding round going, ‘any second now, they’re just going to come flying past me’. I kept looking behind, which I probably shouldn’t do! I’ve done a similar move a few times and I’ve always been caught before, so it’s nice to have them not come round for a change.’
When asked her favourite race she said, ‘I would love to say the scratch but I’m quite looking forward to the points race on Sunday so we’ll see how it goes.’ Spoiler – it went very well indeed, as she rode herself into medal contention early on and sprung a late attack to move up into top spot on the podium, replacing Kate Richardson and holding off bronze medallist Frankie Hall.
After that race she said, ‘To be honest I felt pretty shocking at the start and I didn’t feel great at any point during it. I guess maybe I felt better than everyone else. At the end I wasn’t even riding to win, I was riding to keep myself in second because Kate seemed so strong. I thought “she’s got this wrapped up,” I just wanted to stay ahead of Frankie. I’m so happy, I’m over the moon.’
Alongside pushing their bodies to the limits, in a points race the riders also have to endure some complicated high-speed maths. Holl said, ‘It all strung out and I knew with about ten laps to go I was still within reach of Kate, but I knew I needed to be first or second [in the final sprint] in case Kate scored any points, and a group of four had gone so my only thing was to bring that breakaway group back. I was thinking, “all the points are up the road.” My legs are really sore, I think I’ll need the day off tomorrow. ‘
Her individual titles redeemed a weekend that had started off in slightly disappointing fashion, as World Champions Holl and tandem partner Sophie Unwin were outridden in the Para B time-trial by Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall. Holl said, ‘We had some tricky rides in the tandem, lack of legs for me – which might seem crazy, given the race you’ve just watched. Today was a nice boost, knowing that the legs are there, I just need to find them in the tandem.’
Lora Fachie
Speaking of Lora Fachie: the double world champion also came out on top in a different battle – within the Fachie household. After winning both the time-trial and tandem pursuit in Manchester, she said: ‘I don’t think I’d ever thought I’d be a double national champion so it’s nice to have two. I definitely didn’t see winning the kilo yesterday, so to back it up with the pursuit today is amazing.’
Husband Neil was also racing with pilot Matt Rotherham, and Lora added, ‘The pressure’s on now! He’s got to win tomorrow or else I’ve beaten him.’
Fachie and Rotherham ultimately came away with a gold in the time-trial and silver in the pursuit, so Lora finished the weekend with not just two jerseys but also crucial ‘bragging rights’ as pilot Hall said.
Aaron Pope
Aaron Pope was so nervous he ate three steak bakes the morning of the kilo and almost backed out entirely, but the unconventional preparation paid off as he won the men’s time-trial. Speaking after his claiming his first national title, the University of Exeter CC rider said, ‘It feels good. Tiring, I’m not sure it’s worth it yet but we’ll see in a day or so. I’m going to have a rest now, my little legs can’t take much more.’
Some more steak bakes may be on the cards as Pope targets upcoming National League events and potentially challenging for the hotly contested GB squad places. He said, ‘I’ve got a lot of work to do before I get there, they’re quite quick. I think I only did okay today because they’re not here riding.’
Will Perrett
Defending champion Will Perrett gave a masterclass in points racing, making the decisive move after some initially cagey racing by the bunch was livened up with attacks by Henry Hobbs, Michael Gill and Ben Wiggins. Perrett accelerated away with 37 laps remaining and continued to power away from his rivals, adding a second and third lap to win by almost 40 points.
He said, ‘In previous years it normally goes bananas at the start because everyone’s fresh, and there’s a bit of a wearing down process and it’s whoever’s strong at the end. It was quite cagey and I’m used to doing 120 so I was thinking there’s only 50 laps left! Eventually it hit that point when people’s legs were tired and it was time to go.’
He admitted his decision to lap the peloton for a third time may have been unnecessary, ‘I got about halfway round and thought, why did I do this? This is actually really hard!
‘Ben Greenwood [Great Britain Cycling Team coach] texted me saying, “I can’t believe you didn’t take four this year, I’m disappointed.” Just the win is nice!’
Perrett was one of the most high-profile riders at the Championships, and strongly believes in the importance of smaller-scale track events like this. He said, ‘I didn’t come through all the different GB levels, I went to university, worked part-time for a bit and then got onto the squad. Being able to race against the top riders at nationals each year was massive for me, so I think, why wouldn’t I turn up? I only have two races this year that are in front of home crowds, so I think it’s only right to. Others find it a bit of a nuisance, we all have strict training, and we’re all aiming for the Olympics so I get it, but I honestly think it should be mandatory to come to nationals. If you’re a British-funded rider, you should do your national championships.
‘Back when I was racing it really mattered to win the local track league, and it really mattered to win a national medal, and to win a national title was massive. Even though I’m aiming for the Worlds, it’s still a national title – it’s still really important to me.’
Young guns
As well as established Team GB riders like Perrett, the weekend was also a success for several less prominent names. 16-year-old Henry Hobbs claimed a surprise bronze medal in the kilo time-trial, fitting in training around studying for A-Levels in maths, further maths and PE.
Another teenager, Sam Fisher, also had a memorable Championships, winning two national titles in one day. His Team Wales squad came away with the team sprint before he backed it up with a surprise win in the scratch race, attacking with only a few laps to go and clinging onto his advantage as the bunch bore down on him.
On his scratch title, he said, ‘I wasn’t expecting it at all, I came into this with a bit of a cold and I got lapped twice in the points qualification. A good result would have been staying in the group.’
At the other end of the spectrum, 34-year-old Pete Mitchell came out of retirement to take the men’s sprint title, beating all the youngsters to his first national victory.
Lauren Bell
Another rider to come away with two jerseys, Lauren Bell won every race in the sprint after setting the only sub-11 second qualifying time, and took a clear win over 2022 champion Rhian Edmunds in the gold medal race.
Bell said, ‘I came in here with the goal of having fun riding my bike – I think a lot of the time with races I put a lot of pressure on myself, so I came here enjoying myself, taking in the atmosphere because the crowd in Manchester is always amazing. The legs are screaming but you can hear them cheering you on, so it definitely helps.’
The strength in depth in the women’s sprint squad was apparent, even with World Champion Emma Finucane not defending her title. Bell said, ‘It’s great, every single girl that we’ve got in the squad is doing amazing and we’re all pushing each other on for the future. In the past there had hardly been any females at the Olympics, the last one was 2012 I think, so the future and potential that we’ve got is so great to be a part of.’
The 24-year-old came away with another straightforward victory in the keirin, despite previously struggling with the discipline. She said, ‘I think I wanted to go into the race trying to learn something. Keirin is my weaker event, so I thought I’d try to do some different things. I definitely learned that it hurts. I get frustrated with myself if I finish the race feeling like I’ve been a passenger. So I brought it back to the basic principles, trying to have good observation, gaps, quite basic but it worked!
‘I needed to have a race like this and just enjoy myself, I’ve had a mental refresh in a way. I always think if you’re happier, you go better. I’ve come away from this weekend learning quite a lot.’
Kate Richardson
Lifeplus-Wahoo rider Kate Richardson became individual pursuit champion, dominating the gold medal ride-off by catching rival Frankie Hall with a lap to spare. What looked like a relaxed ride for her turned out to be anything but, she said, ‘It’s certainly not easy. Any time I get on an IP start line I’m more scared of the pain than anything else. I felt in really good shape coming in, the IP is the event of the weekend I really wanted the form in. I knew this morning I had good legs so I wanted to replicate that ride.’
After claiming the team pursuit title alongside Maddie Leech, Grace Lister, and Izzy Sharp, she made it two jerseys in two days. She added, ‘It’s my first time individually winning stripes, so this is really special. I was a bit disappointed with my scratch yesterday, I thought I rode it well but it didn’t play in my favour, so I was really motivated coming in today and I’m glad it paid off. This is probably the best I’ve ever felt in February, physically, so it’s really exciting and I feel like I’ve got a lot of ground to make still.’
Like several others Richardson credited the sold-out crowd for getting her over the line, saying, ‘It’s mad how much having a good crowd eases the pain in your legs, it makes such a difference.’
The Scot now has a quick turnaround before heading to Belgium to rejoin her road racing team for the Classics. ‘Last year was a really steep learning curve, I’d never really balanced both [track and road], but it’s something I’ve been coming to terms with and starting to understand. I’ve been doing a lot of volume around my track sessions so I should be feeling good over there. Might just be a bit colder than it is in the velodrome but I’m used to that in Scotland anyway.’
Hayden Norris
Team Inspired’s Hayden Norris took a dramatic win in the keirin to top off the weekend’s action, but he crossed the line not actually knowing who had won. After a couple of minutes of tense waiting a three-man photo finish confirmed a national title for the 21-year-old.
Like several other riders the former U23 European sprint gold medallist didn’t feel fantastic at the start line – it seems to have been a recipe for success across the board. He said, ‘I thought it was going to kick off pretty early, it was a pretty stacked field. I felt pretty ropey to be honest but I knew I had two laps of decent speed in my legs. I thought someone’s got to do it, so I got out of the seat, kicked it, and was just head down, going for it. It was close on the line, I had no idea who had it. I’m over the moon to clinch it.’
While the crowd and media waited with bated breath to see the final podium, Norris was surprisingly relaxed, saying, ‘To be honest I was just glad to be done with the race. You’re looking for the result, but my legs were sore. I was ready to go and have a chippy.’
The post ‘I was ready to go and have a chippy’: National Track Championships highlights appeared first on Cyclist.