Sandman and Backstedt victorious in junior 10 title races
Joshua Sandman was crowned national junior 10-mile champion, while Elynor Backstedt won the girls title at the National Championships promoted by Ayr Roads/Fullarton Wheelers near Irvine in Scotland on Saturday morning.
Sandman, the 18-year-old who rides for Team Backstedt – clocked 19-26 to take the win, improving on second place in the 2017 title race.
The reigning junior competition record holder following his 18-16 earlier this year, Sandman was 16 seconds quicker than Adam Jarps (Team Bottrill), while Tom Temple (Primera Teamjobs) was third, another six seconds back.
“It didn’t feel that fast,” revealed Hereford-based Sandman, who broke Graeme Obree’s course record with his time. “My time trialling has been really strong this year. I was confident coming into the event, but it does depend on the weather.
“There was a strong headwind going out, and the roads were wet because it had rained overnight and was still drizzling.”
In the girls title race, 16-year-old Elynor Backstedt (Backstedt-Hotchillee) took the win with a time of 21-11, which was 11 seconds faster than runner-up Pfeiffer Georgi (Liv CC-Halo Cycles).
And the Backstedts had another reason to celebrate, with 13-year-old Zoe Backstedt (Backstedt-Hotchillee) recording the third fastest time of 21-43.
“I was really pleased,” said Elynor Backstedt. “It was a big personal best by about 40 seconds for me.
“It was quite windy on the day which was different from when recce’d the course the day before. But the tailwind coming back helped me.
“I didn’t really know what to expect coming into the event. I’ve only done four or five time trials, and this was my first national level event so I didn’t know anything about the other riders.”
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