Beth Watson beat off the challenge from all four corners of the kingdom to claim another win in Verulam Reallymoving’s continuing year of success.
It was close, the winning margin over Lee Valley Youth’s Bobbie O’Brien officially given as less than two-hundredths of a second, but she got her wheel in front in front at the U12 girls’ race at the Hillingdon National Series.
Esther Wong from the Lancashire-based Salt Ayre Cog Set team completed the podium in a race that saw competitors from England, Scotland and Wales and Ireland.
Watson said: “I got a good start but then there were lots of attacks throughout the race. I managed to cover them and fortunately none stuck.
“I knew some of the other riders but others had travelled from teams across the UK so I didn’t know their strengths.
“On the last lap I moved up the pack, following O’Brien’s wheel because I knew she is very strong.
“We both lunged for the line and I wasn’t sure who had won until the official timing showed that I had won by 0.019 seconds”.
They were promising performances for Verulam’s Will Smith and Jamie Maxen in the U14 boys’ race, with Smith confirming his good form that brought success earlier in the week at the MK Bowl.
The adults in the team were also in action this week, with some crossing the sea to do so.
In Belgium Gary Nugent and Marcel Six both took fifth place in their respective races in Koelelare, west Flanders, while closer to home Andy Whale won round three of the Hemel Hempstead Cycling Club’s Bovingdon Bomber Series.
Six followed him home in second place.
It is all good preparation for what is to follow this weekend in what is another big step forward for the fledgling St Albans-based cycling team.
Six of the squad have been accepted for the prestigious London Nocturne event in the City of London on Saturday afternoon and evening.
Six and Nugent will line-up with Luke Houghton, Sam Reed, Michael Parry and Clay Davies.
The unique format of the event will see riders on folding bikes, penny farthings and fixed-gear bikes while both amateur cyclists and elite professionals race across an action-packed programme on the exciting Cheapside circuit.
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