Grass Track racing this Sunday (August 1) in Hertford

Head down to the Sele School, Hertford SG14 2DG, at 1pm for an afternoon of grass track racing starts 1pm.

There's a great field of riders expected to race on Sele School's, err, great field. The meet is the last but one round of the BC season-long Grass Track Short Distance and Endurance Series and including TW's Phil Lisher who is leading the British Cycling 800m series and Bryan Taylor who tops the 8km table.

There will be supporting events for senior riders, such as a devil and unknown distance race, plus events for women and youth riders as well as freewheeler races for our Go Ride squad.

"Should be fun!" Says organiser Sophie Bruton. For more information, contact Sophie. Details here.

Stories wanted!

Hey TW members, we need your content!

Send any results, stories, happenings and photos to
teamwelwyn@gmail.com and I'll put them online as soon as possible.

It would be great to make this blog interactive and informative, so feel free to comment on the posts, email me with your feedback or post anything on your facebook and social networking sites.

Cheers, Nick

Thanks Andy!

Thank you to Andy Fenn, currently based with the BC Under 23 Academy in Italy, for his kind name check of long time Team Welwyn member and Coach, Simon Layfield, in a recent Cycling Weekly 'Off the Back' interview.

Andy recalled how, early in his cycling career, contact with Coach Simon Layfield and Team Welwyn members such as the late Peter Bissell, had been an inspiration. Andy started his cycling career with Welwyn Wheelers (then linked to Team Welwyn) and was coached by Simon Layfield and Sophie Bruton (both now Team Welwyn), achieving several National Youth Championships and track records.

Andy's subsequent career has been watched with interest, some highlights being winning the Junior Paris Roubaix and more recently winning the 2010 BC National Under 23 RR Championship on the testing and very hilly Pendle Circuit.

TW welcomes new members

Team Welwyn welcomes new members Kieren, Andy, Joanne and Jack who have all joined recently. Kieren is a Go Ride regular while Andy, Joanne and Jack are occasional club runners and in Andy's case a winter training regular.

If you're interested about joining the club, check out the details and what we can offer you here.

Great results for the Team

Plomesgate July 3, Colchester July 4

A full weekend of Grass Track Racing in fantastic cycling weather was something to relish for Team Welwyn members last weekend. Starting with the excellent Plomesgate event, this year combined with the added attractions of a village fete and concluding with the new event on the calendar at Colchester, there were superb results throughout.

In the Plomesgate event Team Welwyn youth rider George Bateman was in attacking form and took the win in two of the four events on offer, second in two more and in each case was directly up against Maldon CC flyer, George Wood - which made life easier for the supporters of the two riders. The Omnium result rested on the one lap TT and George Bateman had just lost out, finishing second overall by the narrowest of margins.

George Bateman
In the senior events Phil Lisher opened the day with a win in the Devil and followed it with a smooth passage through to the semi-final of the Short Distance Series event over 800M, this time being fortunate to completely miss a crash that took place behind him. Progress was similarly smooth through the semi-final but in the final Phil uncharacteristically allowed his rivals to get a lead in the early stages and could manage only third place.

Phil Lisher
In the Senior Unknown Distance event, Simon Layfield, finding form after starting to recover from the back injury that bedevilled last season, came a strong third behind returning roadman Simon Daw of Sudbury CC.

Simon Layfield back in action
Final event of the day was the National Endurance Series 8km Scratch with an early break forming and splitting the field, leaving Phil to take the win ahead of Dave Langlands, Fenland Clarion.

On Sunday the Team were at Colchester with freewheeler Jaimie Rowe replacing George Bateman, who was attending a National School of Racing at Hog Hill. Jaimie rode strongly to finish first in two of her races and second in the third, while also enjoying the opportunity to try out speedway, cyclo-cross (at which she has considerable experience) and skills activities, an excellent idea on the part of the Colchester Rovers.

In the Senior events Phil took the win in the Men's 2-Lap TT and followed this with a win in the Points Race. He was then second in the Men's Devil behind Richard Lambert (Chesterfield Coureurs) and unfortunately also finished in this position in the National Endurance Series 8km that concluded the meeting and which Simon Layfield took 10th spot.

Phil's all in a whirl!

Brentwood Grass Track 27 June 2010

With his sights firmly set on both the National Grass Track Short Distance and Endurance Competitions Phil Lisher has been concentrating on this discipline during the middle section of the season. His weekend got off to a bad start when a sudden concertina effect in the bunch during the 10 Mile Scratch at Welwyn Track on the Friday evening, saw a member of Cambridge CC hit the deck rather hard, with Phil catching his bike and somersaulting to a halt on the tarmac, with multiple abrasions resulting.

Fortunately he had a full 24 hours to recover before the Brentwood round of the Short Distance and Endurance Series - luxury!

Taking the chance to enter some Freewheeler Races Phil's sister and fellow Team Welwyn member Phoebe Lisher showed a fine turn of speed but found the variable and strong wind hard going on her mountain bike but still finished in second place in three out of the four events on offer.

Phoebe Lisher in action at Brentwood
George Bateman was in action in the Youth Omnium but had to give best to Alan Trolove, who rides for West Suffolk Wheelers but is a second claim member of Team Welwyn and has coaching assistance from the team. Alan was in superb form and in spite of having to tape his feet to the pedals due to a cleat failure was unstoppable throughout.

In the senior racing the first event to be contested was a Devil with Phil in second spot behind John McClelland. In the Short Distance (500M) event Phil went smoothly through the heats to take the line in the semi-final, at this stage events became decidedly bizarre with an attack by Tim Snook closely covered by Phil with the rest of the field some distance off the back after the bell and the two places in the final therefore looking like a foregone conclusion. The weather had other ideas - a mini-whirlwind approached the track as the riders exited turn two, picked up Tim and Phil, whirled them round a bit and unceremoniously dumped them on the ground before heading off to break through the safety tape at turn three. Fortunately new injuries were minimal but coming on top of Phil's Friday abrasions the crash was far from ideal.

A re-run saw Phil and Tim both safely through to the final where the adrenaline generated by hitting the deck twice in three days saw Phil take a convincing win ahead of McClelland.

In the subsequent 8km the adrenaline was clearly running a bit lower and Phil could manage only fourth place behind Bryan Taylor, winner of the Endurance Series in 2009.

Tour Podcasts

If five hours of coverage a day on Eurosport is not enough, check out these podcasts to supplement your Tour craving:

Velocast - two Scottish guys rant, but in an intelligent and humourous way:
www.velocast.co.uk

Cyclingnews - the world's most popular website's podcast features hardcore cycling geeks rounding up the day's action:
www.cyclingnews.com

The Real Peloton - Author and respected cycling journalist Matt Rendell gives his views on Le Grand Boucle:
www.realpeloton.com

ITV's Tour de France Podcast - Gary Imlach presents this daily show with Chris Boardman providing the punditry:
www.itv.com

All are available via itunes.