Yorkshire Cyclocross Todmorden

Finlay Pushing!

Sometimes it's pretty tough being a parent, asking kids to do something that they struggle with, but that's life! The kids are now regularly going to Cycle club on Saturdays and we've talked about cyclocross a couple of times. The Todmordon event was the last Yorkshire round of the season, so my idea was to give the kids a taste of what it's all about, so next season we can do more rounds. Jack should really have used his Islabike with nobly tyres but we don't have the tyres, so he used his mountain bike. Finlay didn't have a choice having only one bike!

The weather was appalling it had rained for weeks and the ground was completely saturated, it was also very cold. It was very straight forward to register, the kids paid on the day and it was only £1 each. Jack was in the under 12's and Finlay I the under 10's, so they were both pretty young for their groups.

We watched the under 14's race and it looked pretty hard going with all the mud. After the race Jack and Finlay had the chance to do a couple of warm up laps. Neither were that chuffed. Finlay couldn't get his head around pushing his bike through the mud, but he soon got used to it. Many of the Dads were helping the little ones get around the course, but I kept outbid the way and left them to it.

Finlay raced first and he did okay his race was lasted 15 minutes, some of the kids are very good even at such a young age, but Finlay did his best and finished near the back but not last.  The poor little guy was wet through, covered in mug and freezing cold. He went straight back to the car to get changed.

Jack doing his best.

Jack was up next his race was for 20 minutes, he struggled. The heavy bike with large tyres and his lack of experience made it very difficult for him. He was soon knackered struggling. He redoubled his efforts and made it to the end but he was flat last. He got a huge cheer from the people running the event as he crossed the line, but he was very disappointed. 

There was a TV crew at the event taking quite a lot of footage. We'd no idea which station they came from or when there might be aired. To our surprise the footage was shown on Look North, Finlay was famous for all of 5 seconds and Jack was on screen briefly at the start of his race, so here was some positives from the day.

This whole episode takes me back to the beginning of my gymnastic career as a 12 year old. I did the Yorkshire Championships after recently joining the Calderdale Gymnastics Club. I not only came last but recorded the lowest score ever in the competition. This just made me try harder, and ultimately I became a great gymnast representing Yorkshire and England, Travelling abroad and becoming a national tumbling champion, you've got to stick at it!

Finlay on Look North!