A total of 16 Sotonia Youth riders started in the Winchester Criterium and the U8, U10 and U12 races had a good representation from our club.
The standard of racing was very high and riders who often make a podium place suddenly found themselves further down the strong field. This does mean that every rider should be proud of their result as it is intimidating to race with very experienced young riders on a twisty street course and being cheered on by hundreds of supporters.
William was on his way to a good result in the U8 boys race but he had a bad fall and had to pull out for a visit to the ambulance. It was good to see him back on his feet though later to cheer on the other racers. Lorenzo and Giulio must have passed the finish just before the leader as they were made to race for nearly 15 minutes but still averaged over 20 km/h through the twisty streets! Corden was not far behind but he timed his passing of the finish line better.
Jaya showed all her experience and she had a very good race to finish only 30 seconds off 3rd place in the U8 girls. Isabebelle was probably the youngest person in the race but she was very determined and kept going at a good pace to complete 3 Km on her little bike.
In the U10 race Marit decided at the last moment not to race. Her bike did race though as Ruby’s freehub broke 10 minutes before the U12 start. We ran to the Solent Pirates tent (thanks guys!), borrowed a pedal spanner, changed the pedals from Ruby’s bike to Marit’s bike, changed the saddle position and Ruby raced on a bike that was really too small for her. All this excitement did mean though that your correspondent completely missed the U10 race. The results show that Skye, Eva, Tom and Lucas all had good finishing positions in a very competitive field.
The U12 race saw a very good “battle” between Charlie, George and Monty. Each of them was leading at some stage but a small slip on the cobbles saw Monty fall back. Charlie used all his Portsmouth circuit racing experience to edge out George by less than a second. In the U12 Girls race Izzy finished 20 seconds off the podium which is very good for a 1st year U12 rider!
Ruby and Olivia had a good battle all race with each of them in front at some stage. It came down to a final sprint and Olivia just squeezed past Ruby.
The placings of our riders were:
U8 Girls
Jaya 4th, Isabelle 6th
U8 Boys
Lorenzo 9th, Giulio 10th, Corden 15th, William DNF
U10 Girls
Skye 7th, Eva 12th
U10 Boys
Tom A. 11th, Lucas 17th
U12 Girls
Izzy 5th, Olivia 11th, Ruby 12th
U12 Boys
Charlie 11th, George C 12th, Monty 13th
Sotonia Summer Criterium
Next up is our own Criterium event at Winchester South Park & Ride circuit this Sunday 16th June – see you there!