Friday Night Wattbike League is back!

Filed under: General — Tags: , , , , , — Steve Marshall @ 5:25 pm

Friday Night Wattbike League

Race start for Lichfield

Friday 5th January saw the return of the Friday night Wattbike league at Friary Grange Leisure Centre. The Wattbike league is based on the type of racing commonly seen at indoor velodromes and provides 5 different events for each competitor to participate in. Riders are split into 3 groups of 10 riders.

The first race of the evening was the 500m time trial, Chris Stilgoe blasted to the fore with a 33.25 second ride ahead of Beth Clayton’s time of 34.39; David Beattie made his first appearance at a wattbike event and came third with a 34.85 ride.

In group 2 Neil McDonald’s time of 30.83 ensured him of the win ahead of Steve Clarke in 31.02. Tony Wrighton’s 31.32 earned him third place. With both groups having such close finishing times between the top 3 riders all eyes turned to Group 3 to provide similar racing. Clearly, Ian Beard had not read the script so far and powered away to win in 26.31 seconds. David Hirons 27.63 gained second place but was still 2 seconds clear of Steve Clayton who finished third in 29.95.

Race organisers in a cruel streak according to the riders then imposed the distance races as the next event. Normally left to the end of the evening, this promised to turn proceedings upside down. The sprinters could find themselves too fatigued to gain valuable league points, although the riders who preferred the longer distances could suffer even more in the later sprint based events.

Group 1 also had to contend with an extra kilometre, being made to ride 3 instead of the normal 2. Beth Clayton showed her form by winning in 4.20.62 with Chris Stilgoe second and Alison Holmes coming through to third. In group 2 meanwhile Rob Cox continued his good form in the distance races to secure first place in 4.08.86, Tim Challinor was second and chris parlour took third.

Group 3 race over the 4000m distance, Matt Gee’s ride of 4.56.86 secured him first place and a new event distance record. Steve Clayton finished in 5.06.17 with Graham Birch taking third.

A short respite in the evening’s races allowed riders time to recuperate whilst the teams were decided for the next event: The Team Sprint. Each rider completes in turn 250m their cumulative time deciding the placings. Organisers try to team riders together with the aim of creating an evenly matched race. Debbie Capewell and David Beattie took the honours in Group 1, giving Debbie her second team Sprint win in 2 weeks. In Group 2 Tony Wrighton and Pat Staite won whilst in Group 3 Ian Beard and Phil Kelly took the honours

The Devil race, with pre-determined distances used to eliminate the last rider to reach it, guarantees fast and furious racing in which tactics are all important. Alison Holmes did enough to ensure she wasn’t eliminated in any of the sprints and finished ahead of Beth Clayton in second and David Beattie in 3rd. Tim Challinor proved the stronger rider in Group 2 ahead of Chris parlour and Rob Cox. Matt Gee, Steve Clayton and Graham Birch finished in that order for Group 3.

The 500m Handicap event, the last of the evening, sees riders set of at intervals dependant on their times in the 500m time trial event. If the handicapping is done well it should see all riders crossing the line together. It does however rely on the riders not holding back in the first event, as if they would consider doing so!

Anne Robinson held on in Group 1 to win ahead of  Alison Holmes and Debbie Capewell. Pat Staite took the first place in Group 2 but was hotly pursued by Tim Challinor and Rob Cox. In Group 3 meanwhile Ian beard proved to be the 500m specialist taking the final event  despite being set off las with a 5 second deficit. Ian Simms took second and matt gee 3rd

By the end of the evening Alison Holmes and Beth Clayton tied for first place overall in Group 1, Chris parlour and Tim Challinor also tied for the top place in Group 2. Group 3 was more decisive as Ian beard took the overall ahead of Matt Gee and Steve Clayton.

If you would like to participate in this event which is open to anyone to do so please contact Nigel Capewell on 07768 560932 or Phil Kelly at the leisure centre on 01543 308842. Full results and details are available on www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/wattbikes

Cycle Show Time Trial Results

Filed under: General — Tags: , , , — Steve Marshall @ 11:28 am

Cycle Show

Hello to everyone who raced on the Wattbikes at the cycle show. It has been an extremely busy few days since then however I am now back in the office and able to post the results of the Cycle Show. There were some exceedingly quick times and close races across all 4 days of the show. There will be full results posted on the site soon from our records, however take a peek at the final leader table below.

Everyone who entered goes into a prize draw to win a trip to Lanzarote with Sports Tour International. Keep an eye on your mailbox for details on this. The prize for winning you may ask??????? Glory…  just good old fashioned glory!

Male

Catergory Name Time
Over 60 Peter Williams 00:32.18
50 – 59 Michael Fier 00:28.55
40 – 49 David Andrews 00:27.70
30 – 39 Jason Prior 00:27.21
Open Phil Williams 00:27.56
Under 18 Joe Moore 00:30.12
Under 16 Adam Finch 00:31.00
Under 14 Noah Smith 00:32.50
Under 12 Tom Lye 00:34.41
Under 10 Tomas Barnett 00:45.6

Female

Catergory Name Time
Over 60 Zanna Heighton 00:45.94
40 – 49 Ruth Hamilton 00:37.68
30 – 39 Nicky Hjerpe 00:35.84
Open Tanya Gibbs 00:34.80
Under 14 Ella Dobson 00:42.72
Under 12 Mabel Dalrymple 00:46.22
Under 10 Michaela Lysakova-Ivanova 00:42.08

See the Wattbike at LIW and the Cycle Show

Filed under: General — Tags: , , — Steve Marshall @ 11:40 am

Cycle Show Earls Court

Over the next couple of months we are going to many shows around the countrty. The two largest ones being Leisure Industry Week (LIW) at the NEC Birmingham from 22-24 September, and the Cycle Show at Earls Court, London on the 9-11 October.

We are going to have a large presence at both events, and at the Cycle Show there will be a 500m Sprint Challenge in association with Sports Tours International and Wattbike. There will be over a dozen Wattbikes for attendees to race and improve their technique on. Prizes will be on offer to competitors, and the race is a free-addition to the entry price to the show.  To register your interest in the Cycle Show go to this link. It comes thoroughly recommended!!

In addition to this at the NEC for Leisure Industry Week we will be on the Wattbike stand and the British Cycling stand, so there will be plenty of opportunity to see us there. However, if you cannot make either of these events, please call us on 0115 945 5454 and we will point you to the nearest place or event to experience the power of the Wattbike.

Sir Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar do battle on the Wattbikes at Skyride Glasgow

Filed under: General — Tags: , , , , — Steve Marshall @ 11:02 am

Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar showing true Scottish grit during racing

Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar showing true Scottish grit during racing

Sir Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar were the Scottish Olympic medal heroes encouraging the people of Glasgow to pick up their bikes and join them around the city streets on British Cycling’s Skyride Glasgow this Sunday 23 August.

With lots of activities on offer the Wattbikes took centre stage in the busy Skyride Active area in the middle of the scenic Glasgow Green. Hundreds of people came and raced the flying 200m race on the Wattbikes to give Sir Chris and Ross a record to beat. Despite some very gallant attempts in the over-40 and under-40 categories few got close to the two Olympians. Halfway through their packed day, the crowds amassed ten deep around the Wattbike arena as the two Scottish cyclists jumped onto the Wattbikes in their shorts and jeans with celebrity TV-presenter Gethin Jones.

After just a few minutes warm up and practice, the three men challenged each other to competing over the 200m flying lap course. With a fantastic display of power and efficiency, Chris Hoy took just 9.30 seconds to cross the finishing line in first place posting a new World Wattbike record in the process! Not only was it the quickest 200m yet seen on a Wattbike, but it was at a cycling efficiency of nearly 80%, which is extremely impressive for such a short sprint!

Ross Edgar and Gethin Jones were not far behind either, but it definitely looked like the 3-times Olympic-medal winner could take that time down a touch with his next performance.

Ross Edgar and Gethin Jenkins race in behind a distnictly unsatisfied Chris Hoy

Ross Edgar and Gethin Jenkins race in behind a distinctly unsatisfied Chris Hoy

The crowds duly kept the Wattbike team very busy throughout the whole day and they were a massive hit with families, and cyclists of all ages and abilities. Take a look at the Skyride Glasgow photo album as well as the Skyride website for all details. A big well done to everyone who took part, and made such an effort. We look forward to seeing you at Skyride Leicester and Skyride London!

A group of young cyclists follow in the Olympians pedal turns

A group of young cyclists follow in the Olympians pedal turns

Wattbike, Sport England and British Cycling University Project

Filed under: General — Tags: , , — Alex Skelton @ 2:19 pm

Tomorrow will see the start of the training for the Wattbike University Project, a project funded by British Cycling and Sport England to encourage physical activity through use of the Wattbikes. The project will take place in five Universities; Roehampton, Plymouth, Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham. The project will focus on getting individuals to complete one of the ranking events and post their details on the site. Each University has the target of getting 200 members signed up to the ranking and has the opportunity to keep some of the Wattbikes at the end of the project.

The training for the project managers will involve information about the bike, how to race, use the software and make the most our of having the bikes in the University as well as the chance to have a go on the Wattbike and share ideas for encouraging participation and raising money through sponsored events. I will update with information about the day once it has finished.

More Lichfield PR

Filed under: General — Tags: , , — Alex Skelton @ 2:13 pm

There is an article about the Friary Grange Wattbiking event on the “thisislichfield” website here - well done to Phil and Nigel for getting so much publicity.