There were two reasons for Cycle Club Ashwell to celebrate the start of the grass track racing season - they also honoured the founder of their youth section.
The club have named their velodrome after Geoff Godschalk, who spent the afternoon enjoying the racing before the unveiling of the naming plaques and giving an inspiring and emotional speech about the importance of following your passion and trying things in life.
He was the inspiration behind youth cycling at Ashwell, setting out on the Ashwell recreation ground, before securing the long-term rent of the club’s Smallgains home.
It made for a fitting conclusion to a special day, as many cyclists who Geoff has coached were there to join in the celebrations.
The racing itself saw riders from across the south and east of England descend on the village, with categories for adults, youths and novice children.
The adult omnium was a tight affair, with the lead changing hands throughout the day.
Ashwell's Martin Lawless regularly went on the attack to unsettle some of his younger competitors but had to settle for fourth.
2022 National 8km Champion, David Mitchinson, the 2022 national 8km champion, was beaten three-way sprint for the line by Nathan Hardy, the host club's Sam Daniels taking third.
Jenny Andrews took a strong onmium gold, keeping the men in check as they rode mixed races.
As ever, the youth section saw some of the most competitive and enjoyable racing of the day.
Ashwell had their strongest results in the U12 category, with a clean sweep of the podium places - Oscar Darton taking the top step of the podium ahead of Logan Ayers and Jacob Murphy.
In the U12 girls' event, CCA’s Lottie Anderton took top spot, and was able to push the top 3 boys throughout the day.
The younger end of the youth section saw success shared between clubs, with Ashwell taking a strong second place in the U8s as Charlie Brazier made his competitive fixed wheel debut.
He doubled his racing distance by also taking part in the Go-Ride racing throughout the afternoon and narrowly missed the podium following a crash in the last race.
Purwell Primary School from Hitchin once again sent a strong team of riders from their club, the Purwell Pedallers, and starred in the Go-Ride racing.
Oscar Corbett raced to a magnificent first place finish following hard fought competition with CCA’s Ewan Ronanye, the two separated by a near photo finish on the line in two of their races, while Luke Haslam took U12 boys gold.
Amélie Aaronson and Zoe Finotto took silver in the U10 and U8 girls' race respectively and home talents Lucy Douillet (gold U8s) and Molly Brazier (bronze U10s) brought home more medals to show the future of female cycling within the club is in safe hands.
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