Matt Ullmer racing at Reading - click here to enlarge |
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Kent National Series 2007GHS Time Trial Championships 2007 Thruxton National Series 2007 Kerry Youth Tour 2007 Talent Team - Mallory Park Curborough Road Race Castle Combe Road Race Leamington Spa Road Race Thruxton Road Race Hillingdon Road Race |
On the 16th September I had another youth national series race, but this time it was a 3.5 hours drive to Kent.
At this race there weren’t quite so many riders but it was another challenging course specially made for cycling. It was a 12 lap race of 3km per lap.
There were lots of attacks but no splits until lap 6 when I put in a really big attack to try and split it all up. I got away on my own for 1.5 laps and then eventually got caught but only by 3 other riders.
The 4 of us riders were working hard and then with 1 lap to go I had another massive attack and I got about a 10 second gap with 1 other rider, but with less than 1k to go we got caught and then had to settle with 4th in the finishing sprint.
Back to top...On the 09/09/07 I set off to the GHS Time Trial Championships. This was a competition formed by a man called George Herbert Stancer (1878-1962) to encourage young children to take up Time Trialling.
Over the years the event has got bigger and bigger and this year there were 150 qualifiers. The 10 mile Time Trial was in Hull and was 4 miles straight out, around a roundabout and back 6 miles. The whole race was flat except for 2 little hills out and 2 little hills back.
On the day 100 riders signed on and there were 38 riders of my age group, I was feeling quite good at the start and when I was on the start line I was really looking forward to the race.
I set off knowing that it was a head wind on the way out so I was really trying hard and then on the way back I could pick the speed up a lot more. I came in to the finish and I was just 1 second behind my minute man on the road so immediately I knew I had done well to nearly catch him.
After the finish I was anxious to see what time I had done. I came back and my time was already down, I had done a 23:30 which was 36 seconds better than my Personal Best.
As I waited more results came up and in the end I was 4th in my age category 50 seconds off the winner and 14 seconds of 2nd and 12 seconds of 3rd. Overall in the race I was 16th so it was a good result for me. I thought I was at a bit of a disadvantage having only a road bike and everyone else had a time trial bike and I am sure along with more training and better equipment I could improve for next year’s race.
If there are any companies or people out there who would like to sponsor me so I could achieve my goals in cycling, I would gladly advertise your product or logo as I am achieving good results and getting good press reports at the moment.
Back to top...On the 02/09/07 I set of to Thruxton motor circuit for another round of the youth national series.
I was really in form now from recent races abroad in Ireland and in Holland, so before the race I was feeling really good.
It was an 8 lap race of a 2.3 mile long course. The first 4 laps were full of attacks to try and split the bunch, but eventually on the start of lap 5 a break of 4 riders went away.
Then, myself and another rider went across to the breakaway. For the last 4 laps we were all working really hard and one rider got dropped, then another rider jumped across to the break.
At this point I was feeling really good and up the hill on the last lap there was an attack. I followed the wheels but could only hold 5 in the sprint in the 6 man break.
After the race I thought I had done really well finishing 5th out of 40 riders.
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On Friday the 3rd of August we arrived in Ireland ready for the International Kerry Youth Tour 2007. Once we got to the campsite which was located just outside of Kill Orglin which was where the racing started. At 6:00 clock the signing on for the 3 days racing began and we got there early and I was the first person to sign on for the 2007 Kerry Youth Tour. We opened up the programme and straight away realised that it was going to be a tough weekend's racing as there were teams from all over the world. There were teams from South Africa, Malta, Belgium, Scotland, England, Ireland and others.
The racing consisted of 4 stages over the weekend. On Friday was the stage 1 in Beaufort where the course was a tough 6.5 miles long. Saturday morning stage 2 was a 2 mile time trial outside Kill Orglin. Stage 3 was on Saturday afternoon and it was the hardest of all courses with plenty of hills in and it was 6.5 miles long and the course was found just outside Kill Orglin. Finally stage 4 was on Saturday morning and it was a 2.5 mile course which went up a hill into the finish right through Kill Orglin town centre. Then in the afternoon was the prize presentation.
Friday morning we got up and rode to Beaufort where the first stage would start I had to do 5 laps of the circuit being in the oldest category which totalled out to 32.5 miles. My category (the U16) had 64 riders in the race and on the start I got onto the front line and I was really looking forward to the racing. My aims for this youth tour was to finish in the top 20 and try to win the young riders jersey as I was only 15 years old and half of the bunch were 16.
Stage 1I set of and for the first couple of laps I was trying to ride at the front of the bunch so I wasn’t caught out in any crashes as there had been some in the earlier races. There were many breakaways over the first 3 laps but they all got brought back. But on the 4th lap a break went away and I saw that it was a strong breakaway so I went away with a Scottish boy and tried to cross the gap but we couldn’t do it. We were caught with 2 miles to go - there were only about 30 riders left in the bunch so I sat back and rolled in with the bunch in the sprint finish taking 24th place but keeping the same time as the bunch. Unfortunately the break of 5 took in between 1-2 minutes as they all came in at different times.
Stage 2This was the time trial stage and a big stage for me I was warming up on the rollers fairly confident knowing that I was a strong time trialist from doing all our club time trials. I got on the line and new I just had to give it everything so I went off like a rocket and finished like a rocket I wasn’t sure whether or not I had done a good time but when the results were in I had came a massive 6th place and I couldn’t believe it. Also because of that 6th place I moved ahead of all the bunch and into 6th overall.
Stage 3This was made out to be the hardest course of them all so I knew I would enjoy it. Again many breakaways went away and on lap 3 a big break away went away with 2nd and 5th place overall in it so I tried to jump across the gap alone and I got within 3 seconds of the breakaway and over 20 seconds on the peleton but then my legs started to hurt so the bunch caught me and I sat in hoping that the breakaway would get caught. With only 1 lap to go another break away went and this was a big break away as second place overall and 11th place were both in the breakaway this break away stayed away and 2nd took the lead and 11th took 7th place on same time as me. On the stage I was 22nd but again same time as bunch and I kept 6th place overall for the final stage.
Stage 4This was a short but tough stage. We did 10 laps at 2.5 miles a lap, the rain had stopped just before my race and I got called on the front line. As we were all on the front line it rained very heavily again. But this wasn’t going to upset me - I was 6th overall and I couldn’t believe it and I was only about 30 seconds off getting a podium position. I sat in the bunch for the first few laps and on lap 3 round the final bend I got forced into the hay bails and my wheel skidded like mad but I managed to hold myself up. On lap 4, after the finish, a breakaway with the yellow jersey and 5th overall went away so I attacked to cross the gap - I got across and was working hard - I knew that if this breakaway stayed away and we all finished on same time I would finish 4th overall. It came to the sprint finish and it was a hill I would usually love to climb but this lap my legs blew after the weekend's racing. I finished 5th on this stage and was very pleased but there was a time gap of 4 seconds between me and the winner which made me stay in 6th place overall.
I had finished 6th place overall and was 1 second off 5th; 3 seconds of 4th and 10 seconds of 3rd, so I was a bit upset that I didn’t get those 10 seconds but I was still happy as I had done better than I had thought I would and I finished 3rd in the young riders competition - 1 second behind 2nd place and 10 seconds behind the winner of it.
But I really enjoyed the weekend's racing - I won about 50 euros and really had a good time and learnt a lot.
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I set off to Mallory Park having been invited to the Talent Team all day Olympic development training session where over 140 people attended the event. There were over 70 riders in my category and we did all sorts of training e.g. practicing sprinting and cornering.
Throughout the day we did many little races and I came 9thin one of the 1 lap sprint races and 10th in another. Also we did short circuit races and as there were too many people they split the riders in half and in that event I came 6th. But I think I got a lot out of the day improving my moving through the bunch technique, sprinting and cornering it was an all round fun day and I hope to be doing more of the talent team sessions soon.
Back to top...I set off to Curborough on Saturday 12th may being the only Evesham wheeler racing for the first time this year. It was a three stages race in the one day.
Stage one the time trial I came 11th
Stage two the first circuit race I came 11th
Stage three the final circuit race I came 7th
Overall I came 9th after recovering from a crash on the last stage and getting back on and finishing. It was a hard and fun days racing.
Back to top...The weather was fine in all races in which we had an Evesham Wheeler in all categories. In the under 16s race the results were as follows:
Tom Stockdale 3rd
Cameron Smalley Finished in the bunch
Nathan Cox Finished in the bunch
Louise cox finished just behind the bunch.
The 4th category race was Michelle Parsons debut into road racing and saw her cope very well with the racing strategy and finished well in the bunch. Also Jan and Colin Smalley raced in the biggest field off riders they have ever raced in with over 100 riders and they both coped very well.
In the 3rd Category race there were over 100 riders, veteran Paul Stockdale just missed out in a top 10 placing in the bunch sprint and Matthew Ullmer finishing towards the middle of the bunch. second claim Evesham Wheeler Ben Stockdale who is riding for a junior team sponsored by MJS had his first senior win at the weekend taking the first stage of Rockingham Forest 2 day 3 stages. After a good ride in the time trial and a 9th place on stage 3 he managed to secure 2nd overall.
Back to top...Tom Stockdale came 8th; Cameron Smalley and Nathan Cox finished in the bunch and Louise Cox found it very difficult racing against the older people but still enjoyed it and finished the course.
Matt Ullmer Came 3rd and James Stout also finished in the bunch.
Back to top...Youth:
- Tom Stockdale 1st
- Nathan Cox 4th
- Cameron Smalley 7th
- Louise Cox 10th
Matt Ullmer and Paul Stockdale both finished in the bunch.
It was a good weekend's racing.
Back to top...Six Evesham Wheelers had their first Hillingdon circuit race on Saturday 3rd February. In the under 16s race Tom Stockdale managed to break away from the bunch and stayed away for six laps until he was finally caught on the line by the fast approaching bunch he managed to hang on to 4th place Team mates Nathan Cox finished 7th and Cameron Smalley 10th. Louise Cox finished in a small group about a minute down. Louise rode really well she is still recovering from a bad crash while out training a few weeks ago.
James Stout rode 4th cat and was very active at the front of the bunch he rode confidently and finished in the bunch Matt Ulmer rode the elite race which averaged 26 mph he finished in the bunch as well.
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