Last updated 19:44, Thursday, 24 July 2008

OVERCAST skies that threatened rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the second, third and fourth division Lakeland Sprinters riders at Rowrah Karting Stadium.

Poppy Watson, of division four, continued her relentless improvement in the 500m time trial event and all four of the division two riders clocked personal bests.

Girl-power struck division four as Olivia Fearon completed the 500m time trial in two minutes 49 seconds, equalling her pb.

Second fastest rider over the distance was Watson, taking over 15 seconds off her pb to finish in 3.15 whilst Molly Rankin was just two seconds outside her pb time with 3.41.

Becky Tichford took over a minute off her recent times to finish in 4.33 but failed to beat her season’s best time set in early May.

The girls then moved on to tackle the sprint course and the hill climb event. In the a reversal of the time trial result, the green jersey winner in the sprint competition was Watson (8.79), closely followed by Fearon (9.11s), Rankin (9.88s) and Tichford (11.34s).

However, in the hill climb Fearon regained the upper hand and took the polka dot climbers jersey with a time of 26.85.

Watson had to be content with second in 35.61 with Rankin third in 56.18, ahead of Tichford who finished in 63.21.

In divisions two and three Matthew Last (D2) took the honours in the sprint in 5.91 but lost out on the hill climb to Jackson Law (D3) who completed the climb in an impressive 15.08.

Jackson continues to challenge the division two riders and his sprint time of 6.43 gave him second place behind Last.

Jackson’s 500m time trial was completed in 1.47 (pb). If he can move up to the 1km distance and continue to improve his times he could soon find himself promoted into division two where Scott Glaister continues to dominate the 1km time trial.

This week all the division two riders achieved new pbs with only 19 seconds separating the riders. Glaister’s time of 3.17 (pb) was just enough to hold of an improving Matthew Last (3.25pb), Adam Watson (3.32pb) and George Hodgson (3.36pb).

Third in the sprint competition was taken by Glaister (6.47), ahead of Watson (7.59) and Hodgson (7.93), whilst the remaining hill climb places went to Last (second in 15.11), Glaister (third in 15.41), Watson (fourth in 18.52) and George Hodgson (fifth in 20.23).

Unfortunately for the Division one riders, the rain, which had been light and sporadic, turned heavy and persistent which meant that the 1km time trial event had to be cancelled.

Instead, the riders took part in an extended sprint training session led by senior coaches Don Morrison, Penny Kingsland and Tim Houghton.

Here the riders explored starting technique, gear choice, and mental focus to understand how to get their best in this explosive anaerobic event.

Best times of the night were: Daniel Baron (6.59), William Hughes (6.79), Fletcher Hodgson (7.04), Kristian Cook (7.06), Patrick Cowman (7.14), George Bennett (7.63), Sam Heyworth (7.64), and Ailsa Cowan (7.78).