Elsie looks back at an intense few days competing at the National Track Championships at Manchester’s legendary velodrome.

Elimination: This is one of my favourite track events by far. I really like how anything can happen in this race. With this being my first bunch track event with Para, I didn’t have much expectations, nor did I know how the other riders rode within a bunch. I decided to race this just as any usual elimination race: not get boxed in, keep good position and not panic. Off the start one rider shot off from the gun, I followed. This led to a few dropped riders, but I had a good positioning at the bottom of the track and at the front. The speed was high and, with there being fewer riders than I was used to, it was much trickier. I felt I held a good ground throughout the majority of the race until it came down to the last 4 riders. I knew I was against the strongest competition, so I squeezed on and pipped 4th place to the line. With the 2nd to last sprint coming, I got boxed in at the bottom of the remaining riders. I tried to come over the pair but I didn’t have enough in me. I shot back down to the black. It was so close on the line, but I got pipped. However, I am really pleased to come away with 3rd place and a bronze medal.

Kilo: As hard as I can go for 4 laps. I felt good out of the gate and down into my skis felt quite smooth. I powered through the first 2 laps but I could feel myself tiring. I carried on driving forward to the finish, taking a PB from last year’s race and a good 4th place.

Scratch: I knew this race would be the hardest, 40 laps at a high pace against women twice my age! From the start it was quick. Crystal, Morgan, Rebecca, Millie and me formed a group at the front. I held on for as long as I could, doing as little work as I could. I didn’t feel the best in this race. The heat and past two days had tired me and I struggled quite a bit. After around 10 laps me and Millie got strung out the back of the group. I tried to stick with her but I didn’t quite have the legs. After lapping Lizzie, I started to work with her until the finish. I tried jumping back onto the leading girls but I didn’t have it in me. It just wasn’t my best day!

Team Sprint: Me, Ben Wood and Josh Betly teamed up (Summit Seekers). After practicing at Derby the week before, we found me out of the gate, Ben P2 and Josh P3 worked the best. In the morning were qualifiers. I powered out of the gate and took my first lap, driving up the track on my closing lap to allow Ben to come through. I even hit a PB in my standing lap! Ben and Josh worked really well and we were not even a second off 3rd place. This meant we were in the final in the evening. After lots of feedback from the dads, involving the gaps in between us and starts, we started discussing a game plan for the bronze final. We hopped onto the track warm up to just give ourselves a better idea of our new plans. They seemed to be working. Onto the final. The crowd was packed full of spectators. We got into position. I drove out of the gate, beating my PB from the morning and 1.5 sec up on our competition! This time our formation was much tidier and quicker. Unfortunately the other team managed to catch it up and beat us by only 0.2 seconds, just missing out on 3rd.

Overall I really enjoyed the whole experience, except how hot it was — it was so hot! I’m hoping to improve on my times and I can’t wait for the next one.