January 23, 2012 (London, ON) – The 2012 Tim Horton’s Winter Nationals will be remembered by some of the closest finishes the Forest City Velodrome has ever seen. Special thanks go out to all the volunteers who help run the racing each week at the FCV.
How the race day unfolded:
The youth racers took centre stage for an afternoon of Ominum action. The kids were split into 2 categories; Under 13 and Under 15. The girls and boys were mixed together to create some spirited racing.
In the under 13 category, the podium was made up of Charlotte Creswicke taking Gold with 3 first place finishes, William Stewart winning Silver (3 second place finishes) and Griffin Lytle (Buffalo) taking Bronze.
The Under 15 category had 12 racers competing for the podium. Winding up on the top step was the young 14 year old from Cambridge, Claudia Newdick. A great battle occurred for the Silver medal with Lucas Taylor coming out 1 point ahead of hard charging Logan McIntyre.
Best sportsman of the day was awarded to Chris Marentette, who, competed in all the events and gave up his placing in the final as he had just turned 15. Nice job of sportsmanship Chris.
The Evening Session:
Sprints to Madison, the evening session of the 2012 Winter Nationals had racing for everyone. Thank goodness for the chip timing system that the FCV employs for all race nights.
The Sprint competition was the best we have had in the 6 year history of the Forest City Velodrome. The Elite tournament was race after race of close finishes. The 6 rider field was small but mighty….. in the 3 heats the total margin of victory was .149 seconds. In the opening round, eventual winner 16 year old Eric MacDonald (Invita-FCV) attacked his opponent Mike Nuttall (Cycles London) with just over 2 laps to go and held off to the last second surge by Nuttall to win by .099. The race officials had to go to the computer for verification. The next heat between Chris Singleton (Invita-FCV) and Adrian George (Invita-FCV) was even closer. The two teammates attacked each other at the same time with Singleton taking the advantage on the black line. With a lap to go, George started to make his move and came over top to charge to the line. The teammates were elbow to elbow, with both riders riding a perfect line. For the last 1/2 lap they were dead even on the track… to the line again both riders came across together. The race officials went to the computer and the margin of victory was .005 of a second. George came out on top to advance to the second round.
The spectacular sprint was not finished. In the semi finals the closest race so far at FCV, Mike Nuttall (Cycles London) and Daniel McKenzie-Picot (CoachChris.ca) had a knock down drag’em out battle to advance. Daniel M-P attacked and had the early advantage. Nuttal was not to be denied as on the home stretch, he accelerated hard and came along side of his younger rival. As the 2 came across the line, the crowd was screaming as no one could tell who had made it to the line first. Back to the computer and by the slightest margin possible, .001 of a second (basically a dead heat) Daniel McKenzie-Picot advanced to the final.
The Final between Daniel M-P and Eric MacDonald was just as exciting with the two juniors burning up the track and MacDonald winning his first Elite sprint tournament in fine fashion.
The Women’s Tournament was just as exciting with Kim Edwards (Conneticut) just pipping Candice Vermeulen to the line in a very tactical finale.
There was much more racing during the program and those reports will come out later in the week.
For all race results and programs at the FCV go to their website HERE.
The next race at the FCV will be on Saturday February 4th at 7pm. The Vitess Challenge will see the top endurance racers take to the boards for the “winner take all” Challenge.