LAST week saw another busy week for Great Yarmouth Cycling Club members, in particular for the junior riders who took part in the Norwich Youth Crits last Saturday, hosted by Iceni Velo.
The criterium, which was held at the car park at County Hall in Norwich, saw riders from across the eastern region take on a challenging course with lots of sharp, technical corners requiring good bike handling skills.
The GYCC juniors (pictured below) held up fantastically and returned home with a handful of podium places between them.
Star of the show was Seth Houlgate who rode an astonishing race to win the U10 competition and add his first victory to his list of many achievements this season.
The U12 race saw GYCC field a strong team of riders, who worked together to achieve a great team ranking of fourth (Ben Turner), fifth (Harrison Charlwood) and sixth (Jack Colby) – a fantastic team effort and hopefully a sign of things to come as Great Yarmouth CC continues to build on its youth team.
The final result of the day came from George Smedley, who came third in U14 race, a great achievement in his first criterium race on a technical circuit.
The following day saw the GYCC time trial stalwarts travel down to Wickham Market to compete in the Stowmarket CC 10-mile time trial.
On a day of ferocious winds, riders were blown around on the open course which had an adverse effect on times. Two of the three GYCC riders suffered from mechanical failures – Adam Houlgate with two chain derailments and Chris Roberts with a problem with his rear wheel.
They still managed to record creditable times of 27:45 and 25:54 respectively.
Star of the show was again Neil Turner who recorded the fifth fastest time of the day with 23:13.
Last week also saw the continuation of the GYCC Somerleyton time trial series with numerous young riders taking part and riding the short five-mile circuit instead.
Liam Gentry of neighbouring club VC Baracchi took first place with 22:37 whilst GYCC’s Neil Turner was hot on his heels with 23:23.
Liam is in very good form at the moment, not only achieving fantastic times in the local TT series but also the ‘marked man’ in the regional Lotus Cycle Racing League which saw the first round take place at the Lotus track last Wednesday.
The grim weather conditions had little effect on the riders’ speed with sprints taking place from the outset.
The high pace continued throughout the race, with Liam able to hold off for first place overall.
Three GYCC riders took part in the regional E/1/2/3/4 race, however only two finished.
Early on in the race Lewis Roberts suffered from a puncture and was forced to retire.
Despite this, Clive Bond and Chris Sharrock battled on in the adverse conditions to finish in creditable places – Chris in the midst of the fast bunch, whilst Clive was slightly further back in a chasing group.
Next week will see the continuation of the Lotus League and the GYCC time trial series.
For any more information on either of these events, or to learn a little more about the club and its development programme for novice and junior riders, visit www.greatyarmouthcyclingclub.co.uk
Picture: CLUB
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