August 19, 2013 (London, ON) – Many hundreds of hours went into the planning, soliciting and the execution of the first Tourism London Youth GP & Challenge, the volunteers (Lime Green shirts) have been working for months trying to put on a professional race for the Youth Series in London…. this how the Racing unfolded.

An army of volunteers arrived at 6:15am on Sunday morning to start to set up the course and stage for the next 6 hours of racing.  There were the Goody Bags that each racer took home, aligning the sponsors banners, trailers and tents.  The music started at 7:30am with registration as the teams started to arrive for the second half of the double header weekend of Racing.  Most of the youth racers had to do battle in the Mississauga crit on the Saturday.

The nerves of the organisers were a little on edge when we realized only one portable toilet was going to be available… luckily there were no major line ups and there was a Tims near by to take the overflow.

The Commissaires arrived and the course was inspected, other than a little tweak to the finish line the day was ready to begin.

The Squirt division started right at 9am, and 50 minutes later the kids had finished their first event of the day.  The results of the Time Trial – here.

Some notable results were a first time top of the Podium for Nick Wammes from Chatham.  The quickest time for the girls was Naomi Desousa from Hamilton who finished in a time of 1:56.  Quick time for the boys was Rune Schaefer from Alliston.

The racing switched to the longer road races, many of the races at the Tourism London Youth GP were longer to test the fitness of all the athletes and give more value to the families travelling great distances to bring their children to the race.  The races were held on a 1.35k course with wide corners.  The race distance was a combination of time and laps, this made each division race harder to get more laps in their event.

For the race results for the Criterium at the Youth race click here.

As with all youth cup events in Ontario, the events are part of a Omnium style event were the racers accumulate points to determine the overall winner of the day.  For the Omnium results after two events in the Tourism London Youth GP click here.

The next event during the day was the Tourism London Challenge.  47 starters came to the line to take the Challenge. from the gun there was attacking off the front.  A total of $300 in Preems were distributed to the racers throughout the 75-minute event.

Several escape attempts were made in the first 40 minutes of racing, however nothing was able to stay away.  There was a Preem with 30 minutes remaining and this is what formed the 9 rider break that lapped the field with 5 laps remaining.  The break was on their own for the final 4 laps and in the finale, Home town boy Jeff Schiller took top honours and the first place prize, the other top 5 included, Mike Aston, Peter Morse, Brent Aquino, and Junior Adam Jamieson.

The finishing results for the Tourism London Challenge are here.

The Forest City Velodrome (volunteers) would like to thank all the sponsors and contributors for this event.  We hope everyone had a great time at the event and wish to see everyone again next year.