The GDW Development Squad riders have been getting a load more great results recently at the recent Winchester crit races and at a couple of the Odd Down summer series races. James Little was presnet and has kindly written the following report –
On Sunday 17th August a number of the Gillingham Wheelers Development Squad took part in the Winchester Criterium races on a very twisty technical circuit around the city centre. This was a very different type of circuit to the ones that the squad have been racing on over the summer, sapping the strength by requiring constant accelerations and decelerations.
In the first race of the day, in a field of 30 U8s & U10s, Finn Little suffered from being caught on the wrong side of an very early crash and ended up finishing well down on the leaders. Lawrence (Sid) Kinnison took part in a very competitive U12s race and finished down the field.
There were three Wheelers in the U14s, Ben Hywel-Davies, Connor Geddes and James Geddes, and James Hywel-Davies rode the U16s, both fields starting together. James Geddes rode a very strong race and finished in an excellent third place, whilst James Hywell-Davies finished just shy of the podium in 5th.
The GDWDS were racing again on Tuesday evening at the purpose built circuit at Odd Down in Bath. It proved to be a very successful night for the squad with three first places and three second places, with some of the riders having their best results at the track.
Finn Little was second in the U10s, whilst Toby Easby and Lawrence Kinnison took first and second in the U12s. Toby had got in a break of three riders and managed to avoid the other two when they crashed out. He took full advantage while behind Lawrence made it a club one-two. Lawrence was also second the previous week.
The U14s race was a cagey affair which came down to a sprint. James Geddes won by the width of a wheel from Will Matthews of Ride 24/7, with his brother Connor in the main pack just behind. Jacques Kinnison and Ben Hywel-Davies finished further down the field. Maddie Howden took the honours in the U16s girls’ race for the second week in a row whilst James Hywel-Davies got the Wheelers supporters making some noise as he instigated a break with Zach Bridges (Cardiff Jif) with just under two laps to go and powered on for an excellent second place.
In the under 8s, Owain Newing took third place while in the 3rd cat race George Smith bagged some more points with a fourth place.
The net result of all these fantastic results that the youth squad have been getting is that they have now amassed 99 BC points between them, and are the 245th of the 635 ranked clubs or teams in the country.
