Northumberland Classic, Youth Cup #1 and #2

​This weekend saw three full days of road racing for NCCH.  The weekend kicked off with O-Cup #3, the Northumberland Classic held in Baltimore, Ontario on May 21, 2022. 

In the Elite 4 Men’s race, NCCH riders Alexander M. and Antoine B. finished 12th and 15th respectively in a race that featured the largest field with 42 riders.  In the Elite 3 Women race Vanessa M. representing Team Hamilton took second place and Maria M. grabbed 12th.   In the Elite 3 Men’s race Charles B., also representing Team Hamilton, dominated the field winning by over 2 minutes.  The Elite 3 Men’s race also featured strong finishes by Thomas P.(10), Zeke M. (16) and Brady S. (23).  In the Elite 1&2 Men’s race, XSpeed United rider Orian F. crossed the line in 20th.  For those that don’t know, Xspeed United is one of the sponsors of Team Hamilton.

On Sunday May 22, 2022, our athletes attended the Flamboro Speedway in Flamborough, Ontario, for OCA Youth Cup #1 hosted by the KW Cycling Academy.  It wasn’t the greatest day for a ride with the weather being overcast, breezy and rainy, which made for a lengthy rain delay, but that didn’t stop our riders from some amazing results.

After completing a 77.8km race on Saturday Antoine B. said that was just a warm up and kicked things off by setting the fastest time of all riders winning the Grade A category time trial, followed that up with 4th in the 1.72km sprint race, 1st in the Endurance race and 1st in the 0.25km sprint.  Congratulations Antoine, Monday was a well-earned day off.

Not to be overshadowed was a very Marcus Hurley-esk finish by Mathias L. taking first place in the E Grade time trial and 1.72km sprint race, which earned him an upgrade to D Grade were Mathias then won the Endurance race and 0.25km sprint race.  Way to go Mathias.

In the other time trial races Matthew P. just missed the podium finishing 4th followed by Jacob K. who crossed the line in 8th in the Grade C Category.  In Grade D, five out of the top eight riders wearing NCCH blue with Martin-Oliver R.(1st), Addison M.(4th), Bailey M.(5th), Ashton M.(6th) and Chloe M. (8th).  In the Grade E race NCCH owned the podium and had 4 out of the top five spots with Mathias L. (1st), Jaxson V.(2nd), Gregory M(3rd). and Rohan B.(5th).

In the 1.72 km sprint Grade E race, NCCH took 4 of the top five spots with Mathias L. (1st) Rohan B. (3rd) Gregory M.(4th) and Jaxson V.(5th) followed up by Addison M. (5th), Bailey (6th), Ashton M. (7th) and Chloe M. (8th) in the Grade D race. In a tight race Matthew P. grabbed second place, missing first by less then a second, with Jacob K. and Martin-Oliver R. rolling across in 9th and10th places. 

In the grueling Endurance race Matthew P. (3rd), Martin R. (5th) and Jacob K. (7th) all had strong races in the Grade C race.  Mathias L. had another great race taking 1st place, followed by one of the closest finishes of the day seeing Addison M. (6th) barely cross the line in front of Aston M. (7th), followed by Chloe M. in eighth Bailey M. in ninth.  In the Grade E race, 1st , 2nd , and 3rd went to Jaxson V., Rohan B. and Greg M.

The 0.25km sprint Grade E race looked like a carbon copy of the Endurance race with Jaxson V. Rohan B. and Greg M. taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd again.  In grade D, Mathias L. sprinted to his fourth 1st place finish of the day, and Addison M. crossed the line in 5th followed by Bailey M. in 6th.  In the Grade C race Mathew P. took silver followed closely by Jacob K. in 4th.
 
Monday May 23, 2022 was the third day of racing for NCCH, a small but mighty group of NCCH riders attended the Delaware Speedway in Delaware, Ontario for OCA Youth Cup #2 hosted by KW Cycling Academy.  It was a little cool and a little overcast, but with no rain it was a great day for a race.

Rohan B. kicked things off by grabbing Bronze in the Grade E time trial, then followed that up by joining the triple gold club winning the Grade E 2.16km sprint, Endurance Race and 0.4km sprint.  Congratulations Rohan, whatever you did Monday don’t change a thing.

In the Grade D time trials Ashton M. (5th), Chloe M. (7th) Addison M.(8th) all had great races.  In Grade C Matthew P. (2nd) Martin-Oliver R.(3rd) landed on the podium with Jacob K.(6th) in the hunt. 

In the 2.16 km Grade D sprint Ashton M. (4th) just missed the podium, with Chloe M. (7th) and Addison M.(8th).  The Grade C race had 3 out of the top 4 spots coloured NCCH blue with Martin-Oliver R. (1st) Matthew P. (3rd) and Jacob K. (4th) making NCCH proud.  This race was so close there was a one second split between first and sixth place.

The Grade E Endurance Race saw Ashton (6th), Addison M. (8th), Chloe M.(10th) having another strong race.  In the Grade C Matthew P. held on for first place in another tight race, with Jacob K.(5th) and Martin-Oliver R. (7th).  This race was another photo finish with the top seven riders separated by a one second split.

After a strong first round, Addison M. sprinted to third place in the Grade D 0.4km race with Chloe M. just behind in sixth. In Grade C Matthew P. took his second gold of the day and Martin-Oliver R. just missed the podium finishing fourth.

The biggest news of the day was that after two full days of MC work KW coach Rob Good had not lost his voice.  Thanks to Rob, your commentary and encouragement of all riders makes your events some of the best events to attend.
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After three longs days of hard work and racing all of our athletes have earned a little rest, that goes for you coaches too, I know one coach who was fast asleep by 8pm Monday night.
And last but not least, thanks to all the event staff, volunteers, commissaires, timers, race officials who put on these events, it’s your hard work and dedication that make these events possible and help grow youth cycling.