Last updated 19:40, Thursday, 15 May 2008

EACH week the Lakeland Sprinters division one riders take part in a number of different activities at Rowrah.

These include coaching by British Cycling-qualified coaches in various aspects of road and circuit racing, together with a variety of different races and the so-called race of truth - otherwise known as the time trial.

This week, besides the individual time trail, 10 young racers took part in a team pursuit time trial, a Keirin race and a Devil take the Hindmost.

In the Devil, Patrick Cowman and Daniel Baron fought fiercely from the start, but a crash on the last lap by Baron and a strong attacking finish by Cowman gave him first place ahead of Alex Hargreaves and William Hughes.

In spite of crashing on the last lap, Baron still managed to come home fourth.

In the Kierin race the positions were reversed, with a convincing win by Baron from Hargreaves and Cowman.

The team pursuit time trial, run over five laps (2.5km), was won by Cowman (team leader), Stephen Gascoigne, Hargreaves, George Bennett and William Hughes in six minutes 37 seconds, just eight seconds faster than Baron (team leader), Ailsa Cowan, Tom Smith, Kristian Cook, and Sam Hayworth.

Division one individual time trial results (1km): 1, Baron (2.20 pb), Cowman (2.22 pb), Hargreaves (2.25 pb), Hughes (2.34 pb), Cook (2.38), Hayworth (2.38 pb), George 2.42 pb), Gascoigne (2.46), Cowen (2.57) and Smith (3.08).

In division two (1km) Jacob Critchley was fastest with 2.51, followed by Daniel Rooney (3.14), Georgia Canning (3.18) and Robert Atkinson (3.20). These riders have just moved up two division two and are competing at the 1km distance for the first time this year.

Division three (500m) riders all turned in new personal best times. Fastest home was Scott Glaister (1.39) followed by Ruth Jennings (1.53), Matthew Last (1.58) and newcomer Lucy Hewitt (2.20).

Heather Thomas, riding for her first time at Rowrah, turned in a time of 2.00, placing her firmly as a challenger in this close division.

In division four (500m), George Cowan showed his racing pedigree (his mother, father and elder sister are all racing cyclists) leading the way home in 2.18 (pb).

Jack McDonagh showed his rapidly improving form by turning in a new pb of 2.25, whilst Harvey Canning was only three seconds behind his 2007 best time, completing his 500m in 2.33.

Newcomer Olivia Fearon was next fastest (2.49), followed by 2007 stalwart Harry Lamb, with a season’s best time of 3.43. Other newcomers Joshua Hewitt (4.19), Becky Tichford (5.02) and Poppy Watson (5.14) made excellent starts to the season while Ruth Atkinson improved by nearly a minute on her time last week, returning home in 6.42.

In the division three hill climb, Glaister lead the way in an awesome time of 19 seconds while in division two Georgia Canning annihilated the opposition with her time of 16.3 seconds.