Junior World Track Championships

[mfarnham]

Riley Pickrell came in 4th in the Men's Scratch race in his first year racing Junior, at the Junior World Track Championships in Aigle, Switzlerland. 4th fastest Junior in the world. Congratulations Riley!

Most of you know that Riley's a recent graduate of the Tripleshot Youth Program. So congratulations also to Tripleshot Coach Lister Farrar, to people like Peter Lawless who helped get our youth program off the ground, and to all of the members of Tripleshot, whose support of this program over the last 10 years has helped to produce some incredible cycling talent and wonderful young sportsmen and sportswomen like Riley and Sarah van Dam who both competed in Junior Track Worlds. The next generation of competitive and recreational cycling in Canada is looking good, thanks in part to the efforts of this club.

I'm on the road so am not totally up on all the results out of Aigle. Hopefully others can help provide updates on Riley and Sarah's experience there.

Cheers!
Martin

[Rolf]

Holy moly! Fantastic, Riley! From a field of the 20 hottest juniors on the planet. This just made my lunch-hour!

Here are links to video of the event with different starting times, depending on how much time you have.

• From the start of coverage, including a handy primer for us non-trackies on how a scratch race works (mass start, 50 laps, classic first-across-the-line finish): https://youtu.be/CPwFI2xfVI0?t=1h31m45s (16 minutes long)
• Starting from the first mention and visuals of Riley on the start line: https://youtu.be/CPwFI2xfVI0?t=1h34m37s (13 minutes long)
• Only the last five laps of the race: https://youtu.be/CPwFI2xfVI0?t=1h47m0s (1 minute long)

My uninformed race recap: an early crash drops a Brit and sends out a Mexican; then two riders (S. African and French) stick an early attack with 15 laps gone and almost catch the back of the main field about ten laps later (about half way through the race); but a Kiwi then energizes the main group and holds them off; the peloton briefly splits with five chasers breaking free (I think Riley was in there) and they catch the early escapees; then as everything comes back together, a S. Korean immediately counterattacks for the winning move with 21 laps to go, taking only four laps to reach the rear of the peloton and gain a lap on everyone else(!); a few more riders take a flier but the only one to stick it and gain half a lap is the same Frenchman from the earlier attack; the S. Korean remains safely tucked in the peloton, knowing gold is almost certainly his; then with two laps to go, a Polish rider absolutely hits the afterburners and eventually catches the French escapee at the line to pip silver; the peloton behind is completely strung out but Riley rides a sweet final lap, positioning nicely along the back straight and taking the outside line before outsprinting Max Gehrmann (an amusingly-named German) to steal fourth right on the line.

Average speed over 11:31 of racing: 52.076 km/h.

During the medal ceremony for the race, one can enjoy a better view of some questionably placed racing stripes on the, um, lower part of the winning South Korean's kit: https://youtu.be/CPwFI2xfVI0?t=2h12m46s Marginal gains, indeed! Then keep watching for some enjoyable antics among the podium winners (nearly swallowing their medals) and the Korean coach taking his own form of victory lap.

[Lister Farrar]

Thanks for the links Rolf, our guide to the internet and dubious kit design.

Great summary!

Here's a thank you from Riley and Sarah just in this am:

"Thanks so much for the ongoing support! Very much appreciated!

This has been an incredible experience and your generous contribution helped make this possible!

Thanks Sarah & Riley"

And a big thank you to Martin Farnham who spearheaded the fund raising for the contribution to the ~$6000 cost to each rider to go.

[John D]

Maybe Riley can now afford matching socks.

[Lister Farrar]

Maybe Riley can now afford matching socks.

I knew a guy once who said: "Just because they sell them in pairs doesn't mean you have to wear them that way."