George Pittock and Lance Childs both enjoyed success at the latest round of the London Youth Track League (LYTL) at the Lee Valley Velodrome on Thursday 9th February, This was the special events night and featured Keirin, Longest lap and even Madison for the Group 1 boys and older girls.
The two Thanet RC riders were closely matched in the 24 lap (6km) Scratch race with George finishing in 5th place and Lance in 7th.
They were unfortunately drawn together in the keirin heats. George rode his best race so far at LYTL and won the heat, with Lance contesting the sprint for 2nd but missed out to finish 4th.
The longest lap is an unusual event which involves the riders slowly riding one lap of the velodrome before track-standing at the start line waiting for the starter’s gun to fire. Riders try to maintain their composure and stay in their track stand until the gun fires, then it’s a one lap sprint to the finish line. Lance usually one of the best at track-standing, was on this occasion eliminated before the sprint while George did not start the event.
The final event was the 40 lap (10km) points race, Lance won the 2nd intermediate sprint and was delighted to see his name on the big screen, George scored points in all 4 of the sprints to finish in 3rd place overall with 8 points, with Lance in 5th place overall with 6 points.
Just two of the 10 events remaining, both George and Lance are solidly placed in the middle of the Group 2 leader board. Both riders have improved their track riding this season and as Lance has one more year in U14 he hopes to place well in the national/regional track races this year, George has a tougher prospect of performing well as a first year U16 at these events. Well done and good luck for future events as they help Thanet RC get a name for itself on the track, amongst predominantly track racing clubs.
Full results can be found here:- http://www.lytl.co.uk/race-dates—results.html