UTTOXETER cycling starlet Joe Evans picked up a bronze medal competing for the West Midlands at the Inter-Regional Track Championships.
The 15-year-old, from Thomas Alleyne’s High School, was part of a seven-strong team competing against 11 other teams from across the country at the Newport Velodrome in South Wales.
He recorded a new personal best in the 2km Individual Pursuit The West Midlands finished day one in joint fourth, with Evans disappointing in his races but Angela Eggleton winning the Girls Scratch Race, Ethan Lee scoring in the Sprints, Paige Millward fifth in the points and Lucy Shaw third in the Girls Sprints.
By the end of the second day the West Midlands had reached second spot — with Evans performing superbly on the day.
The lead in the Individual Pursuit changed with every heat and as times tumbled, Evans recorded a personal best of 2mins, 21.072secs.
He ended up in the first/second ride-off with the North West’s Matt Gibson.
Evans battled hard but was pipped by just a second, as Gibson came home in 2:20 and Evans a second behind in 2:21.
In the Madison, Evans showed amazing powers of recovery to take the win — despite his earlier efforts in the individual pursuit — sprinting home despite a late charge by Harry Crew of the East Midlands.
On day three, the West Midlands could only finish fourth in the Team Sprints but it was enough to finish third overall and take a prized bronze medal.
