After last week’s very wet race in Basingstoke those that made the trip to Reading were rewarded with a beautiful autumn day in Prospect park. The 19 Sotonia youth riders that lined up at the start were well fed by the excellent cakes from Natalie Harrison. The commissaires in the U10 race got their number of laps slightly wrong and as a result some of our U10 riders had 15 minutes or even more to enjoy one of the best courses on the calendar.
As always the racing provided many stories either generated by the course or by little battles between riders. All our riders should be proud to be part of all these stories as they make for a great day out for everyone. Example stories are Tes getting a medal round her neck, Skye having to get used to a new bike, Monty and Charlie having an exciting battle in the U12 and everyone having to learn to push on the downhills as well! The U16/U14 race was won by the British U16 girls Champion and the coaches – well me – were in awe with the way she was gliding round the course.
At the end of all this the “cold” facts of placings are:
U10 race – 56 in race
U8 girls: Tes Bignell 2nd (42), Jaya Martingale 5th (51)
U10 girls: Ella Ridgment 9th (31), Skye Martingale 10th (32), Marit Davidse 12th (38), Alisha Kirk 13th (49)
U10 Boys: Joseph Bignell 8th (11), Finlay Banks 13th (17),
U12 race – 49 in race
U12 girls: Izzy Hall 4th (18), Olivia Allman 6th (23), Emma Harrison 11th (37), Ruby Flavell 13th (41)
U12 boys: George Connell 4th (4), Samuel Ridgment 9th (10), Monty Flavell 16th (21), Charlie Shepherd 17th (22), George White 26th (35)
U14/U16 race – 68 in race
U14 Boys: Louis Kirk 17th (42) , Max Darnton 18th (44)