Inaugural Jadan Press Beverley Women’s Circuit Race 2014
The inaugural Women’s Circuit Race around the cobbled circuit of Beverley Town Centre got underway, thanks to local sponsor Jadan Press of Hull.
Around twenty four women took to the start-line on an idyllic summers evening. The crowds swelling, and a couple of sighting laps brought them quickly around to a rolling start, flagged away by Jadan Press owner Pam Wainman.
The pace picked up sharply and several of the girls including Team Jadan’s Olivia Tomlinson found themselves out of the back.
Setting the pace, out front, was Team GBCycles Iona Sewell, who gained a few seconds in the early stages of the race. Eleven girls were left in the chasing group, and Team GBCycles had another three teammates in-there for support.
Team Jadan’s Sam Thoy and Victoria Hood had both made the move along with Flora Gillies, Sinead Burke and Ruth Taylor to name a few, but the pace was too high for Victoria, having rode the previous night. The persistent pacing had also been too high for another Team Jadan rider; Annabel Sill was dropped into a smaller group.
The pressure was kept up by Team GBCycles who had closed the gap bizarrely, but team-mate Brit Tate had taken over the pace setting, and now had a six second lead. The group shed a few more girls, and were beginning to lap back markers.
Tate increased her lead to thirteen seconds, where fellow team-mates had left her hanging out with thirteen laps left to race.
A couple of digs were made to bridge the gap by several of the other riders including Team Jadan Sam Thoy, but nothing seemed to work.
Approaching seven laps remaining, Team GBCycles once again rode hard on the front and Tate found herself back in the bunch.
With only a couple of laps left to ride GBCycles again increased the pace on the front, where three members broke free, but Iona Sewell once again rode away from the group.
As the bell lap approached, Sewell had put over twenty seconds between herself and the chasers.
An easy win then for Team GBCycles Iona Sewell, that had left the remaining girls sprinting for the final podium places.
With prize offerings all the way down to fifteenth place, it was Flora Gillies, Speg – Project 51 who took second place marginally from Brit Tate, Team GBCycles who had recovered sufficiently to contest it.
I asked Sam Thoy, Team Jadan about how the race unfolded for her. She said: ” It was a good race and there was a great turn out. The girls had come out to race, so it was competitive.”
“I was expecting to take it steady for a couple of laps, but it was a hot race from the start, after one lap the girls were chasing down. The break went sooner than I thought. I had a couple of goes at bridging the gap but they didn’t hold. We were gaining, but it ended up being a race within a race in the chasing pack.”
Race Winner Iona Sewell said, “We though we would set the pace high from early on, and keep in control. We had strength in numbers, so when Brit went off early, we left her hanging out there for a bit.”
Results
- Iona Sewell – Team GBCycles
- Flora Gillies – Speg – Project 51
- Brit Tate – Team GBCycles
- Charlotte Colclough – Sleaford Wheelers CC
- Karen Poole – Team GBCycles
- Sam Thoy – Team Jadan
- Ruth Taylor – Manchester Wheelers
- Nicola Moore – Squadra RT
- Sinead Burke – PH MAS Cycling
- Jessica O’Brien – RST Racing
Full results TBC
Results by British Cycling
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