Scunthorpe Trophy Track Open
Day 1, 5th Sept 2009; Report and Pictures by Nick Rosenthal ()
Scunthorpe’s Quibell Park track is typical of many outdoor tracks in Britain today. It has a super location, a 450 metre banked tarmac track, and a running track in the middle. But most importantly, underneath the grandstand, there lurks a small café staffed by “the ladies of Scunthorpe Poly CC”. The Quibell Park Velodrome was opened in 1965 and was extensively refurbished between 2002 and 2006, including complete resurfacing.
This two-day Scunthorpe Trophy track meeting, organised by the Scunthorpe Poly CC, included the Jack Tighe Sprint round of British Cycling’s National Sprint League, and also the final round of the British Cycling Ladies’ Omnium League.
The Men’s sprinting attracted 14 hardy riders with newcomer Chris Pritchard turning in the fastest 200m time ahead of Marloe Rodman. These two proved to be in a class of their own, finishing the day in first and second positions, too.
But there was plenty of fun throughout the sprint series. Masters champion Steve Davies showed that age is no barrier to class by beating two younger riders in his sprint heat, and at the other end of the age spectrum, one local rider learned the hard way never to sit up before you cross the finish line – he was cruising through the last 100 meters when his “defeated” clubmate got a second wind and blasted past him to snatch the win, much to the amusement of commentator Dave Kennedy.
Jack Tighe Sprint BC league final positions
1st Chris Pritchard SiS.Com
2nd Marloe Rodman SiS.Com
Jack Tighe Sprint BC League Minor Final Positions
3rd Neil Withington Andersons Racing
4th Richard Lambert Cottingham Cours
5th Steve Davies Ferryhill Wheelers
This range of experience was reflected in the women’s racing, too. The highly experienced Janet Birkmyre was racing, on her way to overall victory in the Ladies’ Omnium League series, and at the other end of the spectrum there were riders taking part in their first-ever bike race.
The Ladies Omnium includes a series of different events and aims to find the best overall rider. Their day started with a one-lap time trial in sunny but breezy conditions, with a strong headwind down the back straight (and for those of us used to Manchester’s 250 metres, it looked like a very long back straight!). Janet Birkmyre won the 1-lap time trial in a time of 37.72 seconds, ahead of Cheryl Owens and Cassie Gledhill.
The first round of the Jack Tighe Sprint League allowed the ladies a few minutes to compose themselves, then they were back up for an 8 km scratch race. Again, Janet Birkmyre won the event, with Cassie Gledhill second and Emma Patterson third.
The gentlemen returned to the track for another round of sprinting, and just as the ladies pursuiting got underway, rain temporarily stopped play. My instructions said “please report on anything interesting, such as cafes”, so I dodged the shower by visiting the café for a slice of carrot cake (purely in the interests of fulfilling my brief).
Racing was soon resumed with Willesden CC’s Jayne Paine undeterred by a bit of dampness and a lot of wind. Paine won the 4-lap pursuit in a time of 2.42:17, a convincing win over Janet Birmyre (2.47:53) and Emma Patterson. The biggest shake-up in this event was seeing European Masters’ pursuit champion Christine Higgs down in 7th place, affected by an interrupted warm-up. (That was her story, anyway – I suspect she was secretly saving her legs for the Points race!)
Another round of men’s sprinting followed, then we moved on to ladies’ sprinting. The gentlemen had raced over two laps in their sprints, but the ladies’ sprints were held over a single lap, with Janet Birkmyre winning ahead of Cassie Gledhill and Cheryl Owens.
The final Ladies race of the day, the 8 km points, was an exciting highlight of the day. Points races are always a tussle between sprinters (who would basically like a slow-ish race with a sprint for points every few laps) and pursuiters (who would basically like to break clear and gain a lap).
And this race summed it up wonderfully. The sprinters picked up the pace to go for the first set of points, and as they relaxed afterwards, pursuit specialist Jayne Paine attacked … closely followed by European Masters pursuit champion Christine Higgs. With two pursuiters away and working well together, the race was pretty much over, and the two women lapped most of the rest of the field, with Higgs taking the race victory from Payne, with Janet Birkmyre in third place to make her the winner of this round of the Ladies’ Omnium League.
The chaps still had a couple of races left, starting with a handicap race. The commissaries offered ladies a half lap start, but Anselma Gallinat was the only lady to take the start, so the commissaries gave the vets a half lap start, too…. Before deciding that veteran Steve Davies was far too strong to be given a half-lap headstart and summoning him back to ride with the “youngsters”.
Block handicap
1st Jamie Rogers Scunthorpe Poly Cc
2nd Julian Pearson Sportcity Velo
3rd John Brearley Scunthorpe Poly Cc
The organisers were feeling kind, so they allowed the riders a 20 minute “tea break” before the final race of the day, the Ken Cross Cars 5-mile scratch race won by the promoting club’s up and coming Junior Jamie Rogers who would travel to Buckinghamshire the next day for some time trialing. Versatile too!
5 Mile
1st Jamie Rogers Scunthorpe Poly Cc
2nd John Brearley Scunthorpe Poly Cc
3rd David Brearley Cottingham Cours
Racing finished at 4 pm, which was very civilised and Sunday’s racing was due to start at 12:00, which too was also very civilised! What with tea and cakes, good racing, friendly riders and welcoming officials, we can only hope that this Scunthorpe track race meeting sees more riders entering next year!
More Photos Nick Rosenthal
Chris Pritchard leads...
Janet Birkmyre (Xrt-Www.Elmycycles.Co.Uk) and Cassie Gledhill (DNA Cycles) go elbow to elbow at Scunthorpe
Steve Davies
Emma Patterson
Scunthorpe Trophy Meet day 1 Results
Jack Tighe Sprint BC league 200m TT
1st Chris Pritchard Sis.Com
2nd Marloe Rodman Sis.Com
3rd Richard Lambert Cottingham Cours
4th John Brearley Scunthorpe Poly Cc
5th Steve Davies Ferryhill Wheelers
6th Iain Young Scunthorpe Poly Cc
7th Neil Withington Andersons Racing
8th Martin Smith Chesterfield Cours
9th Matthew Fenton Cottingham Cours
10th David Brearley Cottingham Cours
11th Paul Gittins Ferryhill Wheelers
12th Julian Pearson Sportcity Velo
13th Nev Pearson Lancaster Cc
14th David Park Scunthorpe Poly Cc
Jack Tighe Sprint Bc League Rnd 1 Heat Winners
Chris Pritchard Sis.Com
Marloe Rodman Sis.Com
Richard Lambert Cottingham Cours
Steve Davies Ferryhill Wheelers
Jack Tighe Sprint Bc League Rnd 1 Rep Winners
Paul Gittins Ferryhill Wheelers
Neil Withington Andersons Racing
Jack Tighe Sprint Bc League Rnd 2 Heat Winners
Chris Pritchard Sis.Com
Marloe Rodman Sis.Com
Jack Tighe Sprint Bc League Final Positions
1st Chris Pritchard Sis.Com
2nd Marloe Rodman Sis.Com
Jack Tighe Sprint Bc League Minor Final Positions
3rd Neil Withington Andersons Racing
4th Richard Lambert Cottingham Cours
5th Steve Davies Ferryhill Wheelers
6th Paul Gittins Ferryhill Wheelers
Devil
1st John Brearley Scunthorpe Poly Cc
2nd Jamie Rogers Scunthorpe Poly Cc
3rd Matthew Fenton Cottingham Cours
4th Julian Pearson Sportcity Velo
5th Martin Smith Chesterfield Cours
6th Iain Young Scunthorpe Poly Cc
Block Handicap
1st Jamie Rogers Scunthorpe Poly Cc
2nd Julian Pearson Sportcity Velo
3rd John Brearley Scunthorpe Poly Cc
4th David Brearley Cottingham Cours
5th Matthew Fenton Cottingham Cours
6th Iain Young Scunthorpe Poly Cc
5 Mile
1st Jamie Rogers Scunthorpe Poly Cc
2nd John Brearley Scunthorpe Poly Cc
3rd David Brearley Cottingham Cours
4th Richard Lambert Cottingham Cours
5th Martin Smith Chesterfield Cours
6th Neil Withington Andersons Racing
British Cycling Ladies Omnium League
1st Janet Birkmyre Xrt-Www.Elmycycles.Co.Uk
2nd Cassie Gledhill Dna Cycles
3rd Cheryl Owens Gs Metro
4th Jayne Paine Willesden Cc
5th Emma Patterson London Dynamo
6th Jodie Brumhead Cottingham Cours
7th Christine Higgs Macclesfield Whs
8th Nicci Meadows Dna Cycles
9th Anselma Gallinat Vc St Raphael
10th Lucy Coldwell Hard Rock Cc
11th Amy Willoughby Cottingham Cours
12th Claire Larbey Mildenhall Cc
13th Janet Park Scunthorpe Poly Cc
14th Lydia Kirkwood Eastlands Velo
Day 2 Results
Scunthorpe Cycling trophy 20k BC Endurance League
1st Bryan Taylor Vc Londres
2nd David Brearley Cottingham Cours
3rd Andrew Magnier Planet X
4th Richard Lambert Cottingham Cours
5th Steven Guymer Raliegh Avanti
6th Adrian Adgar Go Sports Spex
7th Neil Withington Andersons Racing
8th Steve Davies Ferryhill Whs
9th Anthony Pearson Scunthorpe Poly Cc
10th John Mcclelland Agiskoviner .Com
Points Race A
1st Andrew Magnier Planet X
2nd Chris Bush Gosforth Rc
3rd John Mcclelland Agiskoviner .Com
4th Steven Guymer Raliegh Avanti
5th Matthew Fenton Cottingham Cours
6th Neil Withington Andersons Racing
Points Race B
1st Guy Cook Chesterfield Cours
2nd David Brearley Cottingham Cours
3rd Richard Baldwin Rossington Whs
4th Martin Smith Chesterfield Cours
5th Paul Gittins Ferryhill Whs
6th Nev Pearson Lancaster Cc
Block Handicap
1st Jodie Brumhead Cottingham Cours
2nd Anthony Nash Scunthorpe Poly Cc
3rd David Brearley Cottingham Cours
4th Guy Cook Chesterfield Cours
5th Ian Young Scunthorpe Poly Cc
6th Martin Smith Chesterfield Cours
Devil A
1st John Mcclelland Agiskoviner .Com
2nd Neil Withington Andersons Racing
3rd Andrew Magnier Planet X
4th Richard Lambert Cottingham Cours
5th Alan Peet Vc St Raphael
6th John Brearley Scunthorpe Poly Cc
Devil B
1st Anthony Nash Scunthorpe Poly Cc
2nd Steve Davies Ferryhill Whs
3rd David Brearley Cottingham Cours
4th Martin Smith Chesterfield Cours
5th David Park Scunthorpe Poly Cc
6th Nev Pearson Lancaster Cc
Consolation 10 Lap Win & Out
1st Alan Peet Vc St Raphael
2nd Julian Pearson Sportcity Velo
3rd Matthew Fenton Cottingham Cours
4th John Brearley Scunthorpe Poly Cc
5th Tim Higgins Scunthorpe Rc
6th Ian Young Scunthorpe Poly Cc
Youth 1 Lap TT
1st Daniel Dickinson (A) Dinnington
2nd Ollie Wood (B) Aire Valley Rc
3rd William Hamilton-Edmonds (A) Dinnington
4th Alex Taylor (B) Sports City Velo
5th Matt Trimble (A) Vc Lincoln
6th Callum Rogers (B) Scunthorpe Poly Cc
7th Adam De Smit (B) Vc Lincoln
8th Tom Simpson (B) Vc Lincoln
9th Joshua Dunham (B) Star Bikes
10th Reece Wood (C) Aire Valley Rc
11th Lydia Kirkwood (A) Eastlands Velo
12th Jake Beach (C) Aire Valley Rc
Youth Sprint A
1st Daniel Dickinson Dinnington
2nd William Hamilton-Edmonds Dinnington
3rd Matt Trimble Vc Lincoln
Youth Sprint B
1st Ollie Wood Aire Valley Rc
2nd Alex Taylor Sports City Velo
3rd Callum Rogers Scunthorpe Poly Cc
Youth Sprint C
1st Reece Wood Aire Valley Rc
2nd Jake Beach Aire Valley Rc
Youth Course De Primes
Lap 1 Lydia Kirkwood Eastlands Velo
Lap 2 Lydia Kirkwood Eastlands Velo
Lap 3 Lydia Kirkwood Eastlands Velo
Lap 4 Adam De Smit Vc Lincoln
Lap 5 Callum Rogers Scunthorpe Poly Cc
Lap 6 Daniel Dickinson Dinnington
Youth Devil
1st Daniel Dickinson (A) Dinnington
2nd Alex Taylor (B) Sports City Velo
3rd Ollie Wood (B) Aire Valley Rc
4th Callum Rogers (B) Scunthorpe Poly Cc
5th Adam De Smit (B) Vc Lincoln
6th Matt Trimble (A) Vc Lincoln
7th Joshua Dunham (B) Star Bikes
8th William Hamilton-Edmonds (A) Dinnington
9th Tom Simpson (B) Vc Lincoln
10th Reece Wood (C) Aire Valley Rc
11th Lydia Kirkwood (A) Eastlands Velo
12th Jake Beach (C) Aire Valley Rc
