Manchester enjoyed a world record breaking feat on Saturday evening as Anna Morris produced a moment of magic on her way to the individual pursuit national jersey on an entertaining second day at the Lloyds National Track Championships 2025.
Women's individual pursuit
Anna Morris lowered her world record in the women’s individual pursuit final to a magnificent 4:24.060 in front of a vociferous home crowd in Manchester.
After making the catch on Izzy Sharp (Lidl-TREK) just after the halfway mark in the gold medal race, Morris pressed on with conviction and such was her class, she comfortably held her nerve in the closing four laps to improve her previous best set at the Europeans just over a week ago.
The Welsh rider said soon after coming off the track: “The motivation was really high, especially on my home track in front of a home crowd. I am feeling it a bit after racing at Euros, so I wasn’t sure how much I had left in me, but the crowd definitely carried me in those last four laps.
“I was just trying to keep my head down in that last kilometre, trying to keep pedalling as much as I could, they felt like they were giving up, but I could hear the crowd, so I just tried to hold on.
“So far, the 4km has gone pretty well for me. I think we’ll see that record keep coming down this year. There are a few other people who I am sure will be chasing after it this year. But I am really happy to have got the time here, in front of the whole team who have got me in a position to ride like this.
“It is so special to have the opportunity to be riding in the rainbows. I just want to maximise that opportunity as best as I can. Euros and here will perhaps be the only opportunity I will get to ride in it this year, so I am pleased with how it has gone.”
Grace Lister (Hess Cycle Team) captured the bronze medal ahead of Sophie Lewis (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK) to wrap up the podium positions.
Men's points race
Will Perrett (DAS Richardsons) stormed to the men’s points title to make it three in a row in a race which ebbed and flowed throughout, but ultimately, he took it by a point from Henry Hobbs (One Life Cycles), with Ben Wiggins (Hagens Berman Jayco CT) in bronze medal position.
An active start saw a flurry of breaks quickly foiled, with TEKKERZ teammates Ollie Wood and Matt Bostock, Frank Longstaff (One Life Cycle), Finlay Tarling (Israel - Premier Tech), Charlie Tanfield, Wiggins, Hobbs, and brother Noah Hobbs (EF Education Nepo Development) making moves off the front.
Perrett whacked down a sprint and went solo, gaining a quarter of a lap with 67 laps to go. Mark Stewart (Solution Tech Vini Fantini) and Wiggins, Bostock and Henry Hobbs bridged over to gain a lap and 20 points.
Tanfield went solo as attacks continued, with Perrett, Henry Hobbs, Wiggins and Stewart chasing. While unable to bridge over to Tanfield, who took two laps solo and 40 points, Perrett broke away from the group to take the sprint points. He attacked over the bunch, gaining another lap, but was foiled.
A last gasp effort saw Wood cross the line first to claim 10 points, but it wasn’t enough to put him on the podium. Perrett finished on 58 points to take the overall win and a third national title, as Henry Hobbs came second just one point behind. Wiggins rolled in with the main bunch to finish third in a dramatic finale.
Speaking after the win, Perrett said: “That’s three on the trot now so it’s quite nice. I was pushed really hard for it this year. It was very much a slog at the end with the lap takes, and then it was all down to that final sprint. It was so close, and winning it by one point is really special.”
Men's team sprint
In the final, Team Inspired/GTRC made up of Lyall Craig, Harry Ledingham-Horn, Niall Monks and Matthew Richardson found themselves down on the time of Team Inspired B - including Marcus Hiley, Ed Lowe and Oliver Pettifer - in the first two laps. However, they had utilised these tactics though in the first round to qualify fastest for the final and it worked once again as a blistering final lap saw them claim gold by six tenths of a second.
Team Inspired A had set the fastest qualifying time in the morning session with a time of 44.054 but with everyone upping their game as the rounds went on they narrowly missed out on a spot in the gold medal final and had to fight it out with ESV Manchester for the bronze, but they took it by over a second.
Para-cycling B time-trials
Sophie Unwin and pilot Jenny Holl (Loughborough Lightning) completed the national championship double as they added the tandem 1km time-trial title to the pursuit from yesterday. The duo were over three seconds up at the bell and continued to motor away from the times set before them as they clocked 1.08.322 at the finish. It was a close run contest for silver and bronze as Amelia Robertson and Corrine Hall (Storey Racing) took the second spot by half a second with 1:12.225 ahead of Lora Fachie (Black Line) and Charlotte Deykin (Peterborough Cycle Hub).
Holl said: “It’s really nice to race the nationals every year. Not only is it a win - which is always lovely - we’ve put out two rides which we can be really happy with.”
Unwin added: “We came into this weekend just wanting to put in some good rides and showing what we’re capable of and I think we managed that. We went into that knowing it was all about the starting lap. If we put in a really good first lap, it would set us up for the whole ride and we managed that.”
The men’s race belonged to James Ball and Steffan Lloyd (Wales Racing Academy) who got off to a strong start and took the gold in a time of 1.01.732, while there was joy for Mason Bradley (Born to Bike Racing Team) and Jack Pearson (BCC) who recorded a personal best time of 1.05.057 to clinch the silver. Frederick Ireland and Tom Cullen (Otley CC) claimed the bronze in 1.12.480.
Firstly, Ball said: “It was the first one since Paris, so we were just happy to be back really and the crowd have been absolutely fantastic. It’s very special to be back.”
Lloyd added: “Our game plan with the kilo is if you start fast, you’ll finish fast, so we put so much training and effort into that first lap of the event and then the rest takes care of itself. There’s a lot of preparation on the timing and strength work in the gym - it pays off.”
Women's keirin
Lauren Bell (Team Inspired) secured her first national keirin title after a superb display of front-riding which saw her take the scalp of Emma Finucane (Team Inspired) in a fantastic curtain-closer to day two.
As the derny left the track, Bell tried to put as much daylight as possible between herself and the rest of the field which worked a treat. The bell rang for the final lap, Finucane, who had dominated her heat and semi-final, was looking over her shoulder to see who was coming round but the rest of the field had left it too late to catch Bell who breezed over the line while they were left fighting for the silver and bronze.
In the final bend Rhian Edmunds (Team Inspired) and Sophie Capewell (Team Inspired) attempted to make their move and come over the top of Finucane but she held onto second place with Edmunds settling for third.
Bell said: “I looked behind and saw there was quite a gap between me and P2 so I squeezed on a bit because I thought if I go too early, I’m going to fizzle out towards the end. I knew when it got to a lap and three quarters, I knew I could go flat out then and hold on, so when it got to that point, I just thought I’m going to go, get my head down, hold on and it worked!
“It just gives me confidence. Each race, taking that experience and the confidence going into the bigger races like internationals. I know that I can race well and I’ve got good legs to carry me to the end.”
Para-cycling C1-5 pursuit
Amelia Cass (Loughborough Lightning) put in a stunning display to claim the 3km pursuit national title in the C1-3 category, leaving everything on the track to take the victory with a time of 4.13.793. Cass had a margin of almost 30 seconds over Katie Toft (Storey Racing) and kilo champion Elisabeth Simpson, as Cass lapped Simpson twice on her way to the title.
Cass said: “It is a brutal but great race, it is my favourite event. I’ve been a bit ill over the winter so there was really not a lot of expectation but to do a PB time I was really happy with - it was a couple of seconds [faster]. I can’t ask for anything more than that. It’s my first track nationals title so I’m buzzing.”
Meanwhile, in the C5 category , Morgan Newberry (Loughborough Lightning) stormed to victory in 4km pursuit with a time of 5.12.473, as Rebecca Newark (Jadan Vive le Velo Glasdon) managed to hold onto second place and a silver medal ahead of Elsie Hughes (Secret-Training.cc).
Matthew Robertson (Woolwich CC) was crowned the first national champion of the evening session, producing a dominant display to win the men’s C2 individual pursuit in a time of 3.39.461 with Callum Deboys coming in second in 4.00.306 to claim the silver.
Meanwhile, in the men’s C3 individual pursuit, multiple Paralympic medallist Fin Graham put in a strong ride to take the gold in a time of 3.27.263 with Jacob Smith taking the silver in a time of 3.33.675 adding to his time trial title from Friday.
Graham said: “I've not done a pursuit since Paris so I was just seeing where the legs were at. I feel like I'm in a pretty heavy training block right now so all things considered I think it was a well executed ride. With the nationals, it's always an honour to put on that jersey. The other boys are getting stronger so it's nice to have that competition so yeah to come out on top it's pretty special.”
Racing in the rainbow colours, world champion Archie Atkinson got off to a blistering start and refused to take his foot off the gas as he impressively took home his second C4 gold medal and national jersey of the Championships in a time of 4.32.603. There was a close battle for second with Nicholas Fairfield narrowly edging out Josh Betteley with a time of 5.16.208 to 5.16.972.
A delighted Atkinson added: "It was more of a mental battle, last year it didn’t go very well. I only got to like 4.9k, I had to actually finish the pursuit, that was the main thing. The time wasn't amazing. Currently, track isn't the focus so to pull off that is not too shabby.
"I feel good, I'm over that period of having a bad time. I think it's a good refresh and restart for the next season."
The last para cycling final of the evening saw B Xavier Disley win a close fought battle with William Bjergfelt to take the C5 pursuit victory with a time of 4.37.755 to 4.38.994. Going head-to-head in the final heat of four, the pair were closely matched throughout but Disley was carried by the loud Manchester crowd to the national jersey. Samuel Davies reached the podium as 4:39.301 secured him the bronze.
The final day of the Lloyds National Track Championships 2025 will see national titles for the women’s sprint, men’s scratch race, para-cycling mixed team sprints, women’s points race, and men’s keirin.
