Asda Athletes

Last weekend I took part in the Inter-Regional Track Championships as part of the East Midlands team (3 girls, 4 boys). It was a brilliant experience and a lot of fun, as always :).

On the Friday I took part in the sprints where I qualified first, half a second faster than the rest of the field, which I managed to carry though and take the win at the end of the day :D

Then on Saturday I raced the keirin in the morning and the 500m TT in the afternoon (my favourite event). In the morning I got an easy ride through the first round, as I was favourite to win then took a pretty easy victory in the final to put me on the top spot. Then in the afternoon was my 500m TT, I was in the last heat and I had the national record in my head, however my legs were feeling pretty heavy from the morning and Friday’s racing. My ride felt pretty good, but I knew I died off towards the end. I ended up being 0.072 seconds of the national record, GUTTED!! I still won but it didn’t exactly feel like it :/
On the final day (Sunday) was the team events, in the morning I rode the team sprint with Grace where we won and managed to break our own national record we set at the UKSG in summer. Then in the afternoon was the team pursuit where all the girls rode together (me, Grace and Charlotte), this I was not exactly looking forward to as it is more of an endurance race and I didn’t want to let the team down as both Grace and Charlotte are endurance riders. But I managed to hang on to them and we broke another NATIONAL RECORD!!!!

Then to top the whole weekend off, the team won the overall Inter-Regional Track Championship, so in all I would say it was a pretty successful 3 days. :D

Last week I was in Manchester for the annual track championships. On Wednesday I took part in the Under 16 sprint, where I qualified 2nd fastest, but then got pushed down to 3rd overall after a very close race. I was pretty disappointed not to get into the gold medal ride off, but I was still happy to come away with the bronze medal.

On Saturday it was the 500m TT, which is my favourite event. I was going in as favourite to win so I was feeling the pressure a bit, but I managed to pull it out of the bag, so I came away with the gold medal and the National Champs Jersey!! :D

In 2 weeks I’ve got the Inter-regional track championships where I will be riding for the regional team again which is always a lot of fun, and hopefully I’ll ride another good 500m TT and possibly take the national record which I was only 0.15 seconds off at the nationals. :)

Hi there guys, I’m so sorry I haven’t blogged for a while, exams have taken over my life… aahhhh! Since the UKSG I’ve had a few track meetings which have all gone pretty well, but mainly just packing in the training.

Any way last Friday I took half a day off school to go to my local ASDA to celebrate its 30th birthday and to do a bit of fundraising on my rollers. I was on my bike for around 2hrs and with some help from Annette (the best community life champion) I was able to raise £113 :D! So a pretty successful 1st trip in store I think.

7 weeks now until the National Champs and 5 weeks until the Omnium final so still a way to go and I’ve got some more races before them so I’ll keep you posted
:)

Over the past weekend I was down in London as part of the East Midlands team which consisted of 4 girls, 4 boys and our 2 amazing team managers Jeff and Graeme.
We travelled down on Sunday on the coach and had a chance to settle into our rooms before heading off to the ExCel for the opening ceremony.

Redbridge Road Circuit: – Crit Elimination: It started off with a 12 up heat to seed us, did well and got myself into the A final, so me and 2 of my team mates – Grace and Charlotte – were battling for places in the top 12. We ended up with a great result, with Charlotte winning, then Grace and me coming in 4th and 5th.

Road Race: This was certainly the event I was least looking forward to over the weekend, however I surprised myself with a 13th place in the 33km race. This involved climbing a very steep hill 15 times. Not happy! Unfortunately the rest of the team had some bad luck with 4 punctures between the three of them.

Redbridge Road Circuit: – Street Sprint: In the morning on Monday, it was more my type of race. First off we had to qualify with a 250m timed sprint to seed us into 4-up heats. I set the fastest time overall in the qualifier which I was very happy with, which meant I got a relatively easy first round which I won. I then progressed through the competition and got into the A final, where I got the silver medal.

Team Time Trial: The afternoon came round and my legs were feeling rather fatigued, but we had one more race to do on the road circuit. On the team time trial circuit there was a big hill which we were all dreading, but we managed to get up it together and set the fastest time, so we all gained a gold medal.

Velodrome: – Keirin: When the last day came around, I was back onto the boards, but this time it was the Olympic Velodrome which was just an amazing experience. In the morning I was racing in the keirin. I managed to pull off a second place (another silver medal) after making a fatal mistake in the last lap, but I was still pleased with my result. Just one more race to go, which was a good job as my legs were starting to feel like lead.

Team Sprint: In my opinion they’d saved the best race until last. It was me and Grace doing the team sprint for the East Midlands and we were going into it as one of the favourites, so we were very nervous. I was going out the start gate for the first lap then Grace was going to finish it off in the second lap. We ended up doing an amazing ride and qualifying first with a new NATIONAL RECORD!! :O. We and our team managers were over the moon, but we couldn’t lose focus because we still had the final to go. When the final came around we knew that our rivals Wales would have picked up there game and that we had to do the same. As it was the last race we just went all out and emptied the tanks; we achieved another gold medal and broke the national record we’d just set, so there was big smiles all round :D

A brilliant experience overall and 4 medals for me, so i’m a very happy Hannah ;)

Had a busy Easter school holidays, I was racing and training 12 out of 16 days. I spent Easter weekend with the East Midlands team in Perth at the Youth Tour of Scotland, which was a 3-day stage race. After the previous week’s snow we were relieved that it was just showery. The long weekend consisted of an individual prologue time trial and team time trial on Friday, followed by a 50km stage on Saturday and a 30km stage to finish on Sunday. It was a good opportunity for us to practice racing together as a team and trying different tactics. Lots of good training miles too.

At the end of Easter I had a 4-day Talent Team Camp based in Buxton. We were threatened with a road ride in the PEAK district, but the sprinters got an extra session at the last minute, so we were let off (thank God).

I had a few days rest(ish) then did Barkestone Heath Circuit Race on Saturday 21st April. Happy with the result; I managed another win in the girls race which shows my fitness is coming, but I’m glad to be back to the boards this Wednesday for some sprint training at Manchester.

Just 2 weeks now until the UK School Games in London where I get to ride the new Olympic velodrome ?.