2016 - Icebreaker (Final Round)

The Towy Riders youth cycling club were in action in the final round of the British

Cycling Icebreaker championships in Newport at the international velodrome last

weekend. Up for grabs were podium places for the days racing but also overall

placings for the series. The club once again had competitors across all categories for

both girls and boys. The under 12’s kicked off the racing with some fantastic

performances from the Towies who were racing for the first time at a velodrome.

Awen Roberts and Bethany Bennett raced well against riders a year older and were

in the mix throughout. Iolo Dafydd looked strong but fell during the scratch race, but

managed to finish the race. He rode exremely well in the remaining races to get a 3rd

place on the podium, with a great ride from Tomos Perkins. A number of Towies

raced in the under 14 category, where full fields made the racing extremely

competitive. The podium places went down to the final race in both the girls between

two Towy rider sisters. Emma Finucane has found some flying form to take 1st on the

day and 1st overall for the series. Her sister, Rosie Finucane, took a well-deserved 3nd

place on the podium. Amy Cole put together a great series of races to take 3rd place

for the series. The U14 boys had a number of riders in contention for victory on the

day and the overall series. Evan Richards showed his strength by taking 1st place on

the day with Guto Dafydd riding consistently well to get 3rd place on the podium. Bryn

Davies and Cian Roberts rode well and qualified for all their finals. Guto also took 2nd

place for the series showing great consistency. Last but not least were the under

16’s. Ella Barnwell, racing for Team Backsted, showed she was back on form by

dominating the racing and taking 1st place on the day. Owain Roberts, also racing for

Team Backsted, showed some real pace in getting through to all the finals and

competing well, again against older competitors, having just moved up to under 16’s.

The Towy riders now move their focus to the road where the first round of the British

National circuit race series takes place in Durham in three weeks.