Herne Hill Womens Omnium 2009

Full results and photos available.

For the second week in a row the weekend’s weather has been superb for racing and this weekend saw the opening round of the National Women’s Omnium Series. A field of 19 starters took to the venue that was originally built back in 1891 and hosted the 1948 Olympic Games.

500m TT was just over a lap of the track for this event and, with a strong breeze on the penultimate bend, it was the stronger and more powerful riders that were able to blast through and post the best times. Defending omnium series champion Janet Birkmyre set the fastest time, by about 2 seconds, with 39.146 from relative newcomer Cassie Gledhill, 41.073 and one of British Cycling’s real future stars, Lucy Garner on 41.205.

The 8km Scratch Race saw a more tactical game being played, as the more experienced riders stayed in the bunch, knowing that a 2k pursuit was next. Harriet Owen though, decided mid race to break away and held a nice 100 metre lead at one point, but with the strong breeze and a chase from the bunch, she eventually chose to sit up and wait. At this point another relative newcomer to track racing, Jayne Paine, attacked with one of the Rollapaluza regulars, Estelle Rogers, and they opened up a nice lead, sharing the work. The main field seemed content to watch the moves from fast finisher Janet Birkmyre and so it was Paine who out sprinted Rogers for the win.

Birkmyre remained heavily marked and led out into the strong breeze, being passed on the line by several riders, including Harriet Owen, who showed she still had something left after her attack to claim third from Lucy Garner.

The 2km Pursuit saw the riders complete four and a half laps of the track from two stations and it was Jayne Paine who showed that she has great stamina after her scratch race win, as she produced the fastest time of 2min 49.5secs from Lucy Garner, 2min 51.5 and Janet Birkmyre 2min 52.6. Harriet Owen was a further 2 seconds back for fourth, but this kept her close to the leaders in the overall omnium standings: at this stage it was Garner on 9 points, Birkmyre and Paine on 10 pts with Owen on 11pts.

The Sprint competition was run as a heats, semi’s and finals with qualifying and seeding based on the 500 TT results. Birkmyre, Owen, Garner and Gledhill all made the semi’s easily, with Owen then pipping Birkmyre and Garner beating Gledhill to determine the finals. In these, Birkmyre beat Gledhill in the minor final by half a wheel and Garner showed just too much speed for Owen in the main final.

With the sprint results in, Garner was leading overall with 10 pts, from Birkmyre and Owen on 13 and Gledhill on 20 pts. Paine, having won two races and placing 10^th in the Sprint and 8^th in the 500TT was now also on 20 pts.

The Points Race is always the last event and usually decides the top placings, many times the top three changed positions and it was going to be close again today.

With the chief commissaire choosing to have sprints every second lap, as opposed to the normal every 4 laps, this made for a harder race with several riders not finishing.

Early points were shared amongst the top 5 riders, with top three rider Janet Birkmyre puncturing early on, getting a fast bike change but missing out on a couple of sprints as she got back into the race.

It was then with 12 laps left to run Jayne Paine set off on her own, putting her head down to create almost half a laps lead on the field and she held this gap, picking up points all the time.

The main contenders were happy to let her to go, knowing that they were not in danger of her overtaking them in the overall standings. It was a good move, as she eventually finished with 24 points, two more than Harriet Owen, who had taken early points and then added to them regularly. Siobhan Mullen had given chase late on and notched up enough points to take fourth place, behind Lucy Garner, with Cassie Gledhill 5^th and Janet Birkmyre 6^th.

This meant Lucy Garner won this opening round with 13 points, from Harriet Owen on 15 points and Janet Birkmyre on 19. Jayne Paine, although winning three of the 5 events would finish 4^th and Cassie Gledhill 5^th.

A super days racing, well organised by Graham Bristow and with a healthy crowd of over 50 supporters, it was an excellent day all round.

The next Omnium is the Dudley Grand Prix at Halesowen track on Saturday the 11^th of July.