Today the Witham Wheelers; Adam Egner (Team captain),Robert McAndrew,Ehren Courtman, Billy Reed and Beth Mcloughlin competed in the annual Heckington show interclub grass track event against two teams from Spalding.

In the first round of races, the two lap sprint. Beth finished near the back of the group of girls who were older than her. In the boys, Billy also came near the back in an again older group of lads. In the older boys group, Robert won the race with Adam in 3rd and Ehren in a group just behind.

After the first round was over, we discovered that everybody’s gears were too hard for the short circuit so changes were made. After this was the Italian pursuit, and going into this the Wheelers were trailing behind in 3rd on points so we knew we had to give it our all. A good start from Beth and Billy put Ehren in a good place to keep up the high pace. Robert then took over after the short half lap turn and gave Adam a good lead out for the final push and Adam then brought it in a whole 2 seconds in front of second place. This brought us back into the game and found the leaders on 45 points, us in 2nd on 44 points and 3rd on 43 points.

So going into the last round, the 5 lap scratch we knew it was all to play for. In the all girls scratch, Beth went up against a strong selection of girls many years older than her and had a very good ride finishing at the back not far behind the older girls. This was a very respectable ride as it gave the boys a good shot as we had 4 riders opposed to 2 as were in the other teams. Adam went from the gun and time-trialled away to gain an easy win from teammate Robert with Ehren having a great ride finishing up in 5th in a very close sprint. Billy also had an amazing ride and sprinted to line to gain 7th.

All of these hard sprints and lone rides by the younger 3 riders really played a part in the overall points classification. In a tight finish, Witham were joint first on points with Spalding B team on 69 points which meant that the winner was decided on the fastest team sprint resulting in Witham wheelers winning the Heckington Show Grass Track Event for the first time ever. Overall it was a great day and everybody involved played a huge part in the process of winning the Show.

Thanks to Adam for the report and well done to Tracey McAndrew for pulling the team together and getting them up to speed. Also Alan East for the photos and Elaina Kennedy and family for organising the event every year, its a great chance for young riders to compete in fun but competitive event in front of a large appreciative crowd.