UK School Games 29th August- 1st September 2024
TRACK & ROAD TEAM
Aoife Craig, Emer Heverin, Poppy Hamilton, Elliott McKeegan, Curtis McKee, James Armstrong.
Great weekend had by Cycling Ulster.
A 6 person team made up of 3 boys and 3 girls travelled to Loughborough University last weekend to represent Cycling Ulster at the UK School Games 2024. The team was led by team manager Katie Neill and team coach William Hamilton, as well as being overseen by Gary McKeegan.
The competition consisted of both track and road racing, with two days being on the track in Derby Velodrome and the final day on the Road.
A great weekend of racing kicked off on Friday morning in Derby velodrome. First up was the f200 where both Elliott and Poppy competed and excelled themselves. The endurance events followed, beginning with the tempo race with Emer and Aoife competing in the girls race and Curtis and James in the boys.
The following endurance events included the elimination race, points race and scratch race. All riders gave a good account of themselves and gained valuable experience.
A strong ride by Emer Heverin resulted in her winning the scratch race with a well timed attack with one lap to go, showing that Ulster riders, despite limited track time can compete with the best. An exceptional result to cap a great season for her.
In addition to the endurance events, Elliott and Poppy also competed in the match sprint events in which Poppy finished 8th overall and Elliott 10th.
Day two on the track included Team Sprinting and Team Pursuit, where the riders applied themselves and produced fantastic rides as a team.
After the team events, Elliott and Poppy competed in the Keirin finals. Both riders made it to the semi finals, with Poppy winning two of her heats and Elliott finishing strongly.
The final event on the track was the Madison, where Curtis and James competed in the boys race and Emer and Aoife in the girls. Both sets of riders did themselves proud, especially considering this was an event that they had little experience in. Particularly Curtis and James taking off from the start to take points and get on leader board. After the race the commissaire came over to congratulate both sets of riders on how they raced and conducted themselves throughout the race!
Finally, Sunday was the turn of road events, commencing with the drag strip sprints, where Poppy competed strongly, reaching the semi finals.
In addition, the girls race also ran at the same time where Aoife and Emer rode hard on a tight and tricky course to stay with the front group.
Both riders rode a great race and finished in the top 20.
During the boys race, the team displayed excellent team work. James went off the front and led for more than half of the race, only to be caught with 5 laps remaining and unfortunately getting caught up in a crash. After a fast remount, he re-joined the group and all three boys finished strongly.
The final event of the weekend was the street sprints which involved four up sprints over a 350m course with some tight bends and a slight uphill finish. Within this event, all riders participated and competed in various heats. Curtis made a good account of himself within his heat.
On behalf of Katie, William and Gary we want to thank the riders for the way they rode and conducted themselves over the weekend. It was an invaluable experience for all riders. The team was very competitive across the two disciplines which was great to see.
Thanks to Ulster Track Commission and the Cycling Ulster Executive for making this trip possible and to UK School Games and Youth Sport for the invite.
