by Heather Bamforth | Dec 2, 2012
Revolution Series 10 | Revolution 38 – Emily Kay takes on the Champions LtoR: Any Pieters, Emily Kay, Lizzie Armistead – Image © www.ChrisMaher.co.uk
During Revolution 38, I caught up with Emily Kay, last year’s winner of the DHL Future Stars competition, to find out how she is was finding it mixing it up with the Olympic and Senior World Champions on the track.
Emily on the podium at the beginning of her run as DHL Future Stars Champion – ©2010 Anna Magrath/Cycling Shorts.
DHL Future Stars Process
Emily has been a part of the DHL process right from the start. “I started off with the DHL Sprint School,” she explains, “then moved up to the DHL Future Stars, and now I’m riding with the best riders in the world. So, I suppose that’s proof that the system works. It’s great to get the opportunity to race against the likes of Marianne Vos and Lizzie Armitstead too.”
The Elimination Race
“I usually prefer to ride the elimination race from the front, riding at my own pace, but tonight was totally different. I found it slower than I was expecting, but it meant that I had to try different tactics than I’d use normally. But obviously
Revolution 36 – Emily graduates – final podium as a DHL Future Stars after three years domination – speaking to Hugh Porter – ©2012 Anna Magrath/Cycling Shorts.
this is a good stage to try things out on.”
Her tactics obviously worked, with a seventh in the Elimination Race.
The Scratch Race
Emily had said at the outset of the night that her main aim was to sit on Marianne Vos’s wheel at some point. In actual fact, during the Scratch race, Vos was sat on Emily’s wheel during the scratch race. Katie Colclough went off the front with a few laps to go, and it wasn’t until about two laps to go that Vos tried to close the gap, although Colclough held her off to take the win. Emily Kay stayed with Vos and tried to outsprint her on the line for second, eventually coming a close third to Vos’s second.
The Points Race
I asked Emily how the racing compared to the DHL Future Stars events. “Riding the domestic events, you find that you race against the same people all of the time and you tend to use the same tactics,” she said. “Riding at the Junior World Championships you get to ride with other people who you wouldn’t necessarily get to compete against ordinarily, this is just a step up from that. I’m really enjoying it though”.
Emily stayed with the bunch over the course of the points race, placing in one of the sprints. Ellen Van Dyck was the eventual winner, with Vos third.
by Heather Bamforth | Nov 28, 2012
With the recent announcements that Maxgear RT’s women’s squad (the Maxgearettes) have made recently, I thought it would be a good idea to catch up with the girls to find out what has been happening in their world. The riders for next season are Nicola Soden, Melissa Bury, Lauryn Therin, Frankie White, Eve Dixon and Jo Blakeley, together with the Team Manager, Ian Bury
The Maxgearettes line up has changed slightly ready for next season. Have you changed your targets as a team for next season?
N (@nicolasoden) – As a team, the targets will be broadly similar to last year – National Road Race Series, Team Series, Tour Series and Track Nationals although the way in which they are targeted will change. The team will use a planned approach to each race based on differing courses and rider strengths. Each rider also has personal objectives within each race. There are a couple of stage races some of us would like to ride in Ireland and Jersey (Lauryn’s home turf) and we plan to make a few trips over to Belgium again.
M (@smelissabury) – This year we are aiming to have more of a presence as a team at the national series and team series races. This will hopefully enable us to get to know each other well and get to know each others riding styles so we can work to every ones strengths.
L (@lauryntherin) – From our initial team meetings we have all agreed that our targets for the coming season are to be process focused not outcome focused. A strong team ethic and developing as a group of riders who support one another is an integral part of this process. From this, we see our team developing significantly and it’s something we are all very much looking forward to.
J (@jo_blakeley) – This season we have both team and individual targets which will no doubt develop over the winter and racing season as we learn what each others strengths are and how we can work together. I think its important to allow both focuses to maximise the team potential.
You’ve brought some new riders into the fold, how do you think they will fit within the team’s dynamic?
I (@rugbyleague1) – We are delighted to have both Jo and Lauryn on board, they both bubble enthusiasm and bring new things to the team. Lauryn has an extremely exciting sporting background including world class Bobsleigh and has proved in the National Track Champs this year that she is a particularly good sprinter! Jo is very strong at Time Trial, so both riders will add new strengths to the team which should allow us to target more race types. The new team mates also means that five of our six riders are now based in Manchester within 5miles of each other, which should allow us to socialise and train better as a team, rather than just meeting up at races.
F (@frankiewhite7) – They are fitting in perfectly already! I went out with Jo on the MTB last weekend and we had great fun!
E (@eve_dixon) – We all get on really well and enjoy cycling together rather than cycling as individuals, I also think it is the strongest line up we’ve had in Maxgear in the three years I’ve been on the team!
M – After a couple of team meetings I am very excited about the new riders for next year. It will bring and open up new and different opportunities for races, as each of our riders have different strengths.
L – Being one of the new riders myself, I can see already that each individual brings something exciting to the dynamic of the team. And the best bit is, we haven’t even been out on our bikes yet!
J – I’d like to think I fit quite well into the team dynamic!! We all get on well and work/study in a variety of different areas so we all bring something a little different to the table. We also all want to
ride as a team – which I believe is one of the most important things.
Have you seen any increased level of interest since the Olympics/Paralympics, with people approaching your team for help?
E – no but there has been a rise in interest to join the team
M – We have seen an increased level of interest this year, however many seemed to be seasoned riders, so I am not sure if it was the Olympic/Paralympics that triggered this.
L – From discussions with Ian, I am aware that a number of girls contacted him displaying their interest and this was certainly more than previous years. For this reason, it is all the more important that I work hard to prove to the squad I was the right rider to choose.
How do you expect the season to unfold next year? There are new races on the calendar in the North West, how do you expect this to impact on your team?
N – It is great to see the development of a new women’s league as part of the CDNW series limited to 2/3/4 category women. It is a brilliant step forward in womens cycling in the UK as there is currently only racing available at National Level, sometimes against some of the countries or even worlds best riders. The alternative are short criteriums on closed circuits and not much in between. This new series fills this gap, offering road racing more in line with the mens split E/1/2, 3/4 system. The series will be extremely beneficial to our team as it will allow our riders to practice team tactics, build confidence and try things they may not get chance to in a National level race.
E – All new races are good for the whole of the country I think there will be women prepared to travel if they are well run events rather than just cyclists in the North West.
F – We’re really excited about the CDNW 2W/3W/4W series mainly because it should give us an opportunity to be able to dominate races as a team but also because they are local it means our family and friends can come watch.
M – I am very pleased that there are more races being put on in the North West, as I am at Manchester University so it makes getting to races a lot easier! Also a lot of the team have work commitments, so being able to get to and from a race in a day is a massive help both financially and time wise.
L – As a team we have already planned an idea of what we would like our season to look like. The North West based races is something we will target and we are confident about our team working hard for one another.
J – It’s great there’s some events close by. It’s the nature of women’s racing at the moment that races are few and far apart. To have a set of races that are close to home is great news. I’m looking
forward to them.
How would you like domestic women’s cycling to evolve?
F – Personally I would like to see even greater advancements on those made with the entry level CDNW 2W/3W/4W series this year. When I first had a go at racing 18 months ago there didn’t seem to be a great deal out there for those unable to keep with an elite women’s bunch. Jenny Gretton has done a brilliant job with season starter crits at Tameside and Palatine Circuit, but these don’t last the whole season. Things are obviously changing, though until a hoard more ladies turn up, beginners will only continue to try and hang on to the super speedy for much of the season.
E – I would like it to become more feasible for the women to be the best they can and get a wider range of cycling in Britain rather than just an elitist sport with very few individuals getting the support.
M – As I race in Belgium a lot, I would love to see closed roads in Women’s racing. This seems to increase the quality of racing as the riders don’t have to worry about cars, and closed roads just seem to make the event more impressive.
J – I’d like to see more women taking cycling further and more publicity for womens’ cycling. This has definitely grown recently with the Olympics but there’s still a lot of people who don’t realise about the cycling groups/activities that are available around the corner. I didn’t know until just after I started cycling that there was a grass track at the park which we often went to – there’s so many different types of cycling and not enough people who know about them.
There are a number of new networks that have popped up on facebook for of regional groups for women’s cycling, so this should help massively.
Maxgearettes.blogspot.com
@maxgearettes
by Heather Bamforth | Oct 31, 2012
Richard Towse – Buxton CC
Featured Club
A Few Minutes with… Richard Towse of Buxton CC
I have been looking at the “Wiggo Effect” in the North West of England, as I wanted to see whether Bradley Wiggins’ success in the Olympics and Tour de France has had an effect on the general public. I decided that one of the best ways to do this would be to speak to a cross section of cycling clubs/teams to ask their opinion, and whilst I was at it, to ask them for some information about their club.
The first one up is Buxton CC, and Richard Towse, organiser of the Buxton Mountain Time Trial for the club, has kindly answered a few questions for me. So without further ado, here goes…
1. How big is the membership of Buxton CC? Have you seen this grow since the Tour de France/Olympics? Are you seeing an increase in membership in general or are there more increases in particular areas (e.g. women’s riding, time trialling, etc)
Buxton Cycling Club has around 70 members with an age range of between 7/8 years old up to 70 plus. We haven’t seen a rise in membership since the tour or Olympics but we have noticed that more people are cycling in the local area. We expect an increase in membership in 2013 and attendance of our weekly time trials.
2. What type of rider do you cater for?
We mainly cater for the road rider (recreational, race or time trial) although we have members who ride at the Manchester Velodrome, go mountain biking or do cyclo-cross.
3. Do you promote events? If so, what type of events do you do?
We run a series of time trials during the summer months on a Tuesday night just outside of Buxton where anyone can turn up and ride the 9.8mile TT either for fun or to chase a time. These are followed up with a series of 3 hill climbs.
The club also organises 2 open time trials: a mountain time trial (follow @BuxtonMTT if you are on Twitter) which is probably the toughest in the country held on Good Friday each year and a 10 mile time trial in June (follow @BuxtonCCOpenTT if you’re on Twitter). There is also the Bole Hill road race we host on behalf of the CDNW [Cycling Development North West], which is one of the toughest circuits in the North West. We also host one of the first hill climbs of the season on Long Hill which hosted the National Championships in 2011.
4. Is there any development/coaching at the club which is available to all members?
We don’t have any structured development or coaching available in the club but we have a lot of members who have a vast range of knowledge who are willing to pass it on to those who want it. This ranges from the basic “how do I survive a club run” to road race or time trial training tips.
5. Do you still have traditional club runs? Are these well-attended?
The club has the Sunday club run every week throughout the year, usually we have about 6 or 7 riders (on good weather days). Due to the nature of where Buxton is club runs are hilly but are only as fast as the slowest rider, no rider is left behind.
6. If anybody reading this article would like to join Buxton CC, who is the best person to contact?
The best person for a quick chat is Sam at Sett Valley Cycles (www.settvalleycycles.co.uk), as our website (www.buxtoncyclingclub.co.uk) is undergoing a rebuild at the moment and should be back up and running towards the end of November. Full contact details will be on there.
7. Do you struggle to find marshals for events?
As with any event you always feel you’re marshal short, we are fortunate in the Club we have 2 qualified time keepers and a committed group of guys who want to see events run and be successful.
8. Finally, are there any riders at Buxton CC who deserve a mention? Any results that the club are particularly proud of?
Lee Baldwin had an impressive Hill Climb season culminating in 4th place at the National Hill Climb championships on the Rake, his result along with Chris Baines and Sam Mansfield contributed to winning the Team Prize, the Hill Climbers in the club have been chasing this for a few years.
If you would like to have your club [ no matter where in the world you are] featured please contact a member of the team we will be happy to chat and find out what you’re all about. Click to contact us.
You must be logged in to post a comment.