From Simon Wilson
It has been a busy couple of months for the Colchester Rovers Youth riders; none more so than Joshua Angier and Elizabeth Whall… but for very different reasons.
Josh is a first Year Under 14 (Youth B) and is racing most weeks in track, road and now grass track to develop his race craft; the range of experiences will serve him well next season when he will be one of the older riders in his age category.
Whereas Elizabeth is a second Year Under 14 rider and is building towards the National Road Championship at the end of June. She has already won the Youth Tour of Scotland and who knows, she may have a National Road championship to go with the National Cyclocross championship she won last year.
With the arrival of Spring came the MTB East series. This year the series consists of seven rounds of mountain bike racing for all Youth ages and adults. Stand out performances include Matilda Child (first in the Under 19 girls’ series), Jacob Wilson and Nilohit Mengel (first and fourth in the Under 14 series respectively after six rounds) and Noah Wilson (fourth in the Under 12 series after six rounds).
CRCC Youth also staged the first Tony Asplin One Day Youth Stage race in April at Colchester’s Northern Gateway Sports Park. The event was very popular with riders and families. There were strong performances from all CRCC Youth riders including Elizabeth Whall (winner of the girls’ Under 14 category), Matilda Child (second in the girls’ Under 10 category) and Henry and Theodore King (both third place in the Under 10 and Under 8 Open category respectively.