Race One: A cloudy but mild Winter’s day greeted the racers for the first in the series hosted by Hillingdon Slipstreamers and also Caelan’s first rookie race in the under 10’s class.

Caelan was boxed in at the start and struggled to move pass slower racers but after three laps he had the main bunch of under 10’s in sight and bridged the gap. The group traded positions until Bevan Smith from the Welsh club Maindy Flyers and Kye Lewis of Hillingdon Slipstreamers both second year under 10’s pulled away with Bevan later taking the honors with first place. This left Caelan with Hillingdon Slipstreamers Harvey Tadman doing battle again along with Ayrton Smith also from the Flyers. Ayrton managed to pull away early on the final lap leaving Caelan pulling out wide after the final bend from behind Tadman and moving across the circuit to execute a near 250 metre sprint to the line taking fourth.

Overall final positions were up in the air with over 80 starters from under 8’s to under 16’s on the line. It was a bit of a herd and near impossible to calculate with all categories fighting for tarmac space. This also affected the accuracy of placings as Caelan was initially awarded fourth on the British Cycling site only for the place to be amended incorrectly to a fifth two days later but hey, great racing.

RACE TWO:

A bitter morning with the temperature barely reaching three degrees had the field slightly depleted from the week before. The race organisers had the wisdom to split the riders and Caelan lined up with the under 8’s and under 12’s. From the start he managed to move away from the under 10’s and hold on with the main group of under 12’s for three laps before being dropped and doing battle with Slipstreamer riders Kye Lewis and Harvey Tadman . Positions interchanged until the final bell when Kye Lewis pulled away early at the beginning of the final bend with Caelan trying to stay with him and exhausting his energy for the sprint. Harvey Tadman tailed him well and took the position by half a wheel.

A hard fought third place and he learn’t the lesson that going full out to catch a second year under 10 at the bell may not always be the best option.  Caelan was gracious in defeat and later said he went for the win so kudos for going all out. Better in the organisation department but again he was incorrectly awarded fifth on the British Cycling website but later amended to third. 

RACE THREE:

Cancelled due to weather.