Report: Round 1 Women’s Omnium Series

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World Masters champion Janet Birkmyre makes a strong start in this year’s Women’s Omnium series at Herne Hill

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Report: Round 1 Women’s Omnium Series
(thanks JP Wann)

World Masters champion Janet Birkmyre has dominated the National Omnium Series for the past decade, and once again made a strong start in this year’s series, but not without challenges from Jo Smith of Adalta CC and 16-year-old Amber Joseph of PMR@Toachim.

HHOmnium Podium

On a fine sunny Sunday the Brixton Cycles event at Herne hill had a sign-on of 31 riders. Maddie Moore, the runner-up in the 2015 series, had joined Birkmyre at TORQ Performance and the pairing made them clear favourites for the first event, but Amber Joseph had taken a 2nd and a 1st in the 2015 series riding up as an U16 and had her eye on the podium again.

The 500m went to form with Moore delivering a powerful 500m, from in the drops in gusty conditions, with Birkmyre second and Joseph third. The scratch race was a cautious affair with no-one committing to an early attack and as the laps counted down the race seemed to be playing into the hands of the sprinters.

The race ramped up over the last 2 laps and with 150 to go it was Jo Smith who shot out from the slipstream to pip Birkmyre and Joseph, with Moore boxed into 7th. Combined with Jo’s 4th in the 500, suddenly the challenge was on with Smith and Joseph splitting the two TORQ riders.

Birkmyre, Smith, Joseph & Moore went into the sprint Heat A, with the TORQ pair having the sprint palmares, but Amber Joseph had just come from the Full-Gas Sprint event the night before, so also had sprint form. When the attack went it was the raw power of Moore that took her to the front with Joseph closing fast, but not fast enough, and Birkmyre found herself pushed out as Jo Smith took 3rd.

HH Omnium Bunch

So after 3 events we had the unusual result of Birkmyre, Joseph & Smith all sitting on 110points, with Moore just 2 points behind. But moving onto the pursuit was moving into an area of strength for Birkmyre and Moore who took the top 2 places with Jayne Paine in 3rd, whereas Smith and Joseph lost valuable points with 5th and 8th places.

Approaching the final points race, the TORQ pairing seemed to have an unassailable lead, given their strong sprint credentials. But ‘unassailable’ wasn’t something that seemed to be in the minds of Smith or Joseph. Capitalizing upon the new UCI format the two riders set to the task of hoovering up the sprint points that would drag them back into contention on the overall rankings.

Smith grabbed sprint 1, followed over the line by Birkmyre and Joseph. Niki Kovacs took sprint 2, but with Smith in her wake whereas Birkmyre, Joseph and Moore didn’t score. Then Joseph took sprint 3, without the other 3 scoring. Several long breaks were attempted by other riders but the battle of the sprinters kept their margin small.

Coming into the final 4 laps it was clear that the Podium places were still in doubt. As the pace ramped up with 500 to go the TORQ riders moved through the group and were tracked by Joseph and Smith. With 200 to go the race exploded and Birkmyre shot out of the bunch like an orange comet with Joseph in her slipstream and they both tore up the tarmac ahead of the bunch.

But with 50m to go it was Amber Joseph that came storming through to take the final sprint, with Birkmyre 2nd and a fast finishing Cole-Hossian and Amy Smith 3rd and 4th. The points haul of Joseph and Smith had enabled them to once again move up into the podium places, with Birkmyre 1st, Smith 2nd and Joseph 3rd with a disappointed but gracious Moore moved into 4th by just 2 points.

The Brixton Cycles event showcased some top quality track racing and our thanks go to Tom Simpson and his team in hosting the event. The series now moves indoors to Newport on 4th June which will introduce different race dynamics, but I am sure that the contest for the podium places will remain equally fierce

 

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Derny  (mens)
1 Fred Wright VC Londres
2 Vojtech Blazejovsky PMR@Toachim House
3 Michael Mottram HR Owen Maserati RT
4 George Gori Nuun-Sigma Sport-London RT
5 Brendan Drewett Full Gas Racing Team
6 Tom Hargreaves Nuun-Sigma Sport-London RT
7 Rory Mackay VC Londres
8 James Farrington Avenista Racing
9 Craig McLean Nuun-Sigma Sport-London RT
10 Paul Barnard Southdowns Bikes – Casco
11 Dimitri Demishev NLTCBMBC
12 Oliver Robinson Thanet RC Race Team
13 Chris Bodell Full Gas Racing Team
14 Anthony Orrell SunSport Velo
15 Niki Kovacs Brixton Cycles Club
16 Jennifer Allum PMR@Toachim House
17 Rob Milnes Thanet RC Race Team

Womens Omnium
1 Janet Birkmyre TORQ Performance
2 Joanna Smith Adalta Cycling Club
3 Amber Joseph PMR@Toachim House
4 Madeline Moore TORQ Performance
5 Niki Kovacs Brixton Cycles Club
6 Amy Smith Project 51
7 Charlotte Cole-Hossain VC Londres
8 Lesley Pinder Elitecycling
9 Sophie Black RP Vision Racing Team
10 Christine Robson VC Londres
11 Leeana James WBN? Cinelli
12 Jayne Paine Willesden Cycling Club
13 Isabella Stone Project 51
14 Catherine Gaskell VC Londres
15 Nicola Toms Elitecycling
16 Sophie Lankford Aprire Bicycles/HSS Hire
17 Susan Freeburn PMR@Toachim House
18 Molly Haycock Bournemouth Arrow/Hotel Collin…
19 Corinne Price
20 Isobel Whiteley Halesowen A & CC
21 Emma Towers PMR@Toachim House
22 Dalila Lecky Dulwich Paragon CC
23 Lesley Courtney Welwyn Wheelers CC
24 Hannah Cusworth VC Londres
25 Charlotte Roberge Dulwich Paragon CC
26 Stefanie Lai
27 Judith Philip Cycling Club Hackney
28 Helen Stacey VC Londres
29 Jennifer Allum PMR@Toachim House
30 Laura Cheesman Team Jadan-Weldtite
31 Keri Parton Royal Air Force CA

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