Race Team
Black Line is a track sprint team, competing at national and world amateur level across the UK, Ireland & Europe
Meet the Race Team
Black Line was created for riders to have a welcoming environment for both training and racing. Put simply, the type of environment that allows people to excel in the sport they love.
We are solely for track sprinters and currently have over 40 members based manly across England, with a good training group at each of the indoor tracks. This is a racing team, but there are no ability requirements so everyone is welcome. Having said that, we are fortunate enough to have a number of high level riders, from whom less experienced riders can learn from.
We are incredibly active, racing is what we are all about. Go to a sprint meet and you will see Black Line team members, guaranteed. We are the biggest sprint team in the UK, something that we are proud of. Sprinting is what we celebrate, it’s the best part of the race, why wouldn’t you?
We have been fortunate enough to have our clothing supplied by Velotec, who are at the forefront of aerodynamic technology and offer us fantastic quality kit at a very competitive price.
Black Line Rider Bio’s
Black Line Team News
HSBC National Track Championships 2020
HSBC Track Cycling National Championships 2020
Every year the HSBC Track Cycling National Championships is the showcase event of the BC calendar. It is the one opportunity for the amateurs to have a crack at the pros. To put the bike rider that trains for hours around work, school, college and life in with the chance to win a medal that shows they are among the nation’s best. When you look down the list of riders who have stood on that podium, the who’s who of going fast is read out. And to be added to that list is something that every rider dreams of. To be noticed, to stand out, to be told the hours were worth it. That is what Black Line riders came to do. To see if they could stand out.
Day 1
The men started their championships with the team sprint and 4 teams lined up for Black Line. For many of our team, the Nationals is an event with a far higher standard than anything else that they compete at and provides an opportunity to see some of the best in the world. The first round is always brutal, but our A team put in an incredibly strong ride to qualify 3rd. The others would unfortunately be left to cheering from the side lines, although there was plenty to cheer for. A substitution saw Harry Ledingham-Horn replace Matt Roper and join Ed Lowe and Hayden Norris to post their fastest time of the day, 46.0 seconds. Backing this up with a 46.1 in the final secured them the Bronze medal ahead of Glasgow Track Racing, a fantastic achievement for the boys, who are aged just 16, 16, 17.
The women began their campaign with the Sprint. 4 Black Line riders began the day, and by the time the semi finals came, we had everything to play for. Unfortunately Milly Tanner and Lauren Bell came up against one another, and after a fantastic battle it was Milly who went through to the final. Despite going one ride up, she was forced to settle for second. Lauren was victorious in the Bronze ride off, meaning that the girls brought home the clubs first ever senior individual medals. An amazing achievement for them, and something celebrated a lot by us!
Day 2
The second day was the sprint day for the men. With countless pb’s in qualifying (I think every single rider), just Hayden Norris and Matt Roper made it though to the quarter finals. Hayden rode incredibly well against the number 1 seed Hamish Turnbull, but the extra speed was too much. Meanwhile, Matt Roper that advanced through to the Semi finals after a tough best of three against Niall Monk. Matt gave it everything in those final rides, taking his semi to 3 against Hamish, but unfortunately he was beaten into 4th by Alex Spratt. I can not explain what a momentous result this was for Matt. He is dedicated and relentless in his work ethic and this result was a just reward. Well done Matt!
The women had to wait until the evening session for the Keirin and scratch. Ellie Stone and Lauren both made it through to the final, which Lauren incredibly went on to dominate and win! This is the clubs first ever individual national title. The buzz and excitement for Lauren was incredible, our what’s app group exploded with messages. We are delighted for Lauren and can not wait to see her in the white skinsuit. Congratulations Lauren.
Day 3
Unbelievably, the final day of competition was perhaps out best. The women’s program was action packed, with both the team sprint and 500TT on the same day. Ellie and Lauren qualified 3rd and continued to deliver consistent performances to secure the bronze medal, with Lauren clocking a time of 19.01 for her opening lap, a big break through for her. Milly rode with Blaine (in foreign colours) to take the win. Despite Milly riding in the wrong kit (which she politely asked to do) we are delighted for her and the title was well deserved.
Lauren then rode one final time, to clench another National title in the 500m TT. This was her 4th medal of the championships, an unbelievable performance across the board and hopefully a sign of a very successful 2020 coming her way. We are all looking forward to seeing how she does this Summer.
The men were not yet finished. The Keirin competition was wide open, and on paper Matt Roper was 2nd fastest on the start sheet. Keirin is the lottery of the sprint world, and it would take a good head to make the most of the opportunities that came his way. Matt absolutely nailed this, taking a flyer in the final and holding on to a Silver medal, getting passed by Joe Truman in the final bend of the race. Matt was delighted with his result, as he should be. A huge result for him and the club and an end to a fantastic weekend of racing.
Analysis……
Black Line once again showed that we are a club for everyone. With riders at the very top, to those who just came to race hard and see how fast they can go. We supported one another and thrived off the buzz of shouting on team mates, racing hard and celebrating the success that we had. It was a pleasure for me to watch and help out over the weekend. We came to leave a mark and we certainly did. We were noticed, we did stand out, we are Black Line!
Newport GP - 19th November 2017 - By James Brightwell
The 2017 Newport GP promised to be bigger than ever and it delivered. As usually the final event of the year (not including the gold ribbon Black Line Team Champs!) an excellent days racing was on the cards!
With 36 men signed on for the sprint Black Line represented well with 11 of the team down to race. Qualifying went well for the team with Ali Fielding, Alex Spratt & Tom Baker occupying the top 3 spots with 10.606, 10.621 & 10.677 respectively. The rest of the team included newly joined Rowan Elliott qualifying for the A sprint in 12th with 11.150. Richard Pepper continued his fine form this year with another PB 11.505 to qualify 19th. James Brightwell qualified 20th with 11.530. Simon Udrup over from Sweden racing for Black Line for the first time in the UK put down 11.672 to qualify 23rd. Phil McWilliam, Karoly Markos and Kevin Dunn all went under the 12 second mark, with Kev setting a new PB with 11.945, 11.967 & 11.981 with Ben Brooks narrowly missing out on the same mark with 12.009.
A Sprint
The first rounds saw Ali up against fellow Black Liner Rowan with Ali’s pace proving too much for Rowan meaning that the Reps awaited for the final seed. In a bizarre turn Alex was relegated during his first round due to his opponent crashing. Despite an attempt to try and have the decision reversed by the coach of the rider who fell the comms kept to their guns so to the rep Alex went.
Tom Baker produced a strong turn of power to see of Miles Annon to go straight to the next round.
The first rep saw Rowan come up against Sprinters league reigning champ Albin Geneix and Luke Burton. In a rapid race the pace and experience of Albin proved too much to Rowan and a heat won in 11.122 was a tough ask on the day.
The second rep saw Alex against Barny Davis and Miles. A cagey affair the pace was high from the go and Barny made it difficult to pass and to the shock of most there unfortunately Alex was unable to pass Barny to finish the rep in 2nd meaning his days racing came to an end.
The second round saw Ali up against Rep 2 winner Barny. Ali used all his experience gained on the GB Academy to control the race, and crossing the line first in a rapid 10.925.
Tom continued to show his pace with a solid performance again against Jeremy Franks. He said afterwards the legs were feeling good which was a positive sign after a few weeks of illness.
The semi finals again kept the Black Line lads apart. Ali rode an excellent race against the in form Joel Partington with the result never looking in doubt. Tom once again showed his growing form beating Albin with another solid display of the power that he has in his locker.
The final saw the 1st and 3rd seeds and team mates come against each other. Tom leading this one out the pace was high and the racing extremely close. In the end the Photo finish was required to the delight of the crowd with Ali pipping Tom on the lunge to win by a tyre width and claim his first Sprint event win of his young career.
B Sprint
The B Sprint had 3 Black Line riders qualify. Simon Udrup was impeded when making the jump which the Comms were not happy with so was bumped up following his ride against the 2ndseed. James Brightwell was deemed to have come out of the sprinters line in the final banking and was relegated meaning the reps awaited. Richard Pepper continued his good form in beating Angus Warren of SES to sail through coming over the top in the back straight.
The reps saw James against old rival Tom Boulton and 2nd seed James Bunting. The race was fast from the gun with a drag race ensuing with James unable to pass both Tom and Bunting meaning his days racing was over.
The 2nd round saw Simon up against Jack Cruden with only 0.013 separating them in qualifying it promised to be a close event. Simon proving too strong for Jack who had to go via the Rep and winning in a fast 11.772.
Richard found himself up against Daniel Cooper of Team Terminator who had nearly 3 tenths on him in qualifying. The young terminator rider just had too much for Richard so the minor final awaited.
The Semi Final saw Daniel, fresh from beating Richard in the previous round, against Simon. In another fast heat Simon was unable to upset the odds and came home behind Daniel in 11.687 meaning the ride off for 3rd/4th was to come.
The Minor final saw a surprise entrant with Richard Davis who was the first seed and had qualified with 11.154 in the 4-up race. Always difficult to ride Richard did himself proud in finishing 4th meaning an 8th place finish in the B sprint showing how much progress he has made this year and more to come I’m sure in 2018.
The 3rd & 4th Place final saw Simon up against Eddie Arden from SES Racing. Unfortunately Simon wasn’t able to get the better of Eddie on the day but finishing a very respectable 4thdespite qualifying 11th for the B sprint which was an excellent result.
C Sprint
4 Black Liners qualified for the C sprint. Phil McWilliam making it look too easy in his first round beating Mateusz Rydlewski without getting out of first gear, perhaps conserving energy for the later rounds to come!
Karoly put in a tactical display to beat his opponent Ewan Davis with a turn of speed he could not match. Kev continued to show that he has clearly got a racing brain seeing off Joshua Porter in his first round. Ben Brooks using the experience picked up on the Black Line clinics, never looked in doubt against Carl Watson, despite only being separated by a few thousandths in qualifying.
With all 4 Black Liners qualifying straight to the 2nd round, some in team racing was inevitable. Phil again looked in control as he rode a classy race against Carl Watson who had gone through the reps. Ben continued his fine form against Steven Evans and proved too strong for his competitor. Kev & Karoly were then up against each other. Both have been in good form and the racing was tight. Kev proving too strong on the day for Karoly.
The Semi-finals saw Kev up against fastest qualifier Craig Hamilton and after some hard racing Kev just didn’t quite have the legs to beat the number 1 seed meaning the ride off for 3rd was the result. The 2nd Semi-final saw Ben against Phil. Both riders knowing each other’s strengths meant they tried to neutralise with Phil wanting to lead this one out. Ben showed a great turn of pace in the end to beat Phil, meaning his first final was beckoning.
The 3rd/4th ride off meant that Kev and Phil were up against each other. In the 3rd fastest heat of the C sprint Kev managed to take the win and once again this year get his feet on the podium.
The final saw Ben up against number 1 seed Craig. Having gone through some tough rounds against faster opponents Ben just didn’t quite have the gas to upset the odds but finished an excellent 2nd for the first podium of his cycling career.
An excellent days racing from the whole team and some brilliant results. The support for racing by the team and the performances across the board show how good this team is!
Black Line Open 2017 Race Report
May 20th 2017 saw the very first edition of the Black Line Open. A lot of planning and preparation had gone into creating an event that catered for sprinters of all abilities. A day for celebrating sprint cycling in its own right and not a side show for mass start races.
And what a day it was.
Over 90 sprints were run throughout the day and with the 75 entries split into groups of 12, the racing was close all day, with the finals coming down to last few metres. Some of my favourite stats:
– The Elite Health Sprint, 12 riders, fastest qualifier 11.0, slowest 11.3.
– 11 riders riding 10 seconds for their 200, 33 riders riding a 11 seconds and 15 riders riding 12 seconds.
– Equal prize money for men and women.
– A top quality ladies field of 19 entered.
– 75 total entries for a sprint competition.
With so much racing, it was difficult to pick the highlights, but to pick my favourite in each sprint…
Richard Pepper (Black Line) put in a brilliant TT pb to then go on and finish second in the Legro’s Training Camp sprint.
Dave Heald showed some strong early season form to come out on top in an incredibly tight PROJECT clothing sprint, well done Dave.
Eamonn Byrne just missing out on the win in the Elite Health sprint, but delivered a really strong days racing in his first day in the Black Line Colours.
Johnny Mitchell for a stunning 200m time of 10.254 and still coming out on top in the Black Line Men’s Sprint, no matter what Matt Rotherham threw at him.
Lauren Bate Lowe for an impressive win over Sophie Capewell in an incredibly tightly contested Black Line Women’s Sprint competition, well done Lauren.
And of course a special shout out to the Black Line guys and girls, did me proud as always, a pleasure to work and ride with you all!
Full results are available at the Black Line Facebook page!
I’d like to take this opportunity to that the sponsors of Elite Health, PROJECT clothing and Legro’s Training Camp. I’d also like to say thank you to the riders for making the day one of the best days of sprinting that I can remember. Great days of racing can’t be planned but every single person rode their hearts out! I can’t wait for next year’s Open to be bigger and better. Watch this space! Thank you.
Mid-season report 2016
The season is just about at it’s half way point, and so far it has been a fantastic year for Black Line. From a training point of view, we currently have guys and girls regularly at Lee Valley, Manchester, Newport, Derby, Bournemouth, Preston Park, Reading and Sundrive. The team is getting to a size where people are able to link up together, ticking one of the teams key goals, to give sprinters people to train with!.
Racing is, however, where we have really set the standard. Matt Roper currently sits in 2nd place in his bid to retain his national sprinters league title, helped by a superb win at the Super Mad Herne Hill round with all of the country’s best amateur sprinters present. Chloe Jones also attended the event, and came away with a 3rd place in the women’s Keirin.
We continue to maintain some of the highest attendance in sprint events nation-wide, and this was exactly the case for the recent British Track Masters, held at Newport. With 6 riders competing, the team absolutely smashed it, with 5 pb’s and 5 medals. The stand out riders were Phil McWilliam, with two bronze medals, and Mark Wiffen, who not only medalled in 3 events, but produced a stunning time of 2.20.1 in his 2k pursuit, a time that will make him a very strong contender for the World’s later on this year.
As well as Chloe, proving that Black Line is represented at both ends of the age spectrum, is Ali Fielding. Ali has had a great year to date with results including winning the Southern/ Welsh omnium round and securing 4th overall in the Revolution future stars series. We would like to wish Ali and Chloe every success at the upcoming national youth and Junior championships!
So, the season is just half way through, and there is still plenty of racing to come. Highlights will be the Youth and Junior National Championships, the Late-summer meet at Newcastle under-lyme, the Newport GP and of course the hotly anticipated Black Line team championships, to be held at Newport velodrome later on this year. With Tom Scammell now riding for the UCI team USN, will Matt Roper me able to move one step higher up the podium, or will one of any number of talented riders take the glory! A fantastic Black Line season so far, well done to all!
BlackLine Team Championships 2015
November 1st 2015 saw the first addition of the BlackLine Team Championships take place at Newport velodrome. BlackLine is fast becoming one of the most established sprint teams in the UK, a fact that I am delighted with having only started the team itself in April of this year. 21 riders entered the event and with 28 riders currently registered to the team in the UK, this was a fantastic show of enthusiasm and commitment to support the event and deliver a brilliant day of racing.
Qualifying was a tight affair, with the top 8 riders qualifying for the A sprint and the rest fighting it out in the B’s. Tom Scammell set the bench mark of 10.6 seconds and it looked likely he would be facing the on form Matt Roper in the final, as the only 2 riders to break 11 seconds. The B sprint top seed went to Phil McWilliam in a time of 12.0, with Nick Caton, Rich Youle-Grayling and Karoly Markos in touching distance.
The format of the day was 1 off quarters and semis, followed by a best of 3 final. Unlike most sprint events, if you lost a race you went in to the bottom half of the draw, meaning that we had a best of 3 final right the way down to 15th-16th places. The remaining riders completed a round robin. I decided on the format to guaranty close racing and lots of rides for all, something that was backed up by the fact that 3 of the 8 finals went to 3 rides, not to mention we had 3 dead heat photo finishes on the day, something that I have never heard of before!
The racing was close, with Rich taking 3rd in the B-sprint ahead of Seb Horner (after a right-off dead heat in the first race). In the B final, the commissaires were forced to step in for the deciding ride, with Nick Caton awarded the win over Phil McWilliam.
The A sprint produced some of the closest racing of the day. Tom Baker, took 3rd place over Ali Fielding, and then after a tyre widths win by Matt Ropers in the first ride, Tom Scammell brought things back to even going into the 3rd. With 3 tenths between the two riders, Matt decided to go from 2 laps out and opened up a 20m gap. Tom just managed to close in the final bend and take the win, the championships, and a gold personalised head spacer, showing to all that he is the BlackLine champion of the world!
After a busy day or racing, we descended upon Nando’s to refuel and talk about the days events. It was a brilliant first event for the team, with top racing and an atmosphere that allowed people to enjoy it to it’s full. With over 3 seconds covering the 200 times, the format and team attitude still allowed for a day packed of racing for all. Well done guys and thank you for making the event what it was. It was a pleasure to organise, can’t wait for next year already!
I’d also like to add a special thank you to Naomi Mitchell, Pete Baker, Dave Scammell, Karen Scammell, Heidi Fielding, Andy Fielding and Katie Aitken for volunteering their time to make the champs run so smoothly. Your help was very much appreciated by all.
2015 Nationals Championships
The 2015 Nationals Championships was Black Line’s first, and there were high hopes for a number of riders. We had 13 riders competing over the 3 days, not bad for a team that’s just 6 months old!
Day 1 began with the Keirin with both Matt Roper and Tom Baker contesting the racing. Unfortunately the day did not begin well. Matt was eliminated in the first round and Tom was caught up in a crash that saw him (and his bike) badly injured, ultimately forcing his withdrawal from the team sprint and kilo. Not a great start, but Tom we wish you a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing you back next year.
The next event on the day was the Tandem kilo, with Pete Mitchell (me) and Neil Fachie. For us this was a really good opportunity to see where we were at in our current training block and what adjustments we needed to make for our next big event. In short we had a rubbish first lap followed by a really strong 2nd and 3rd. Lots of information to take forward to our next training phase. Our time of 1.02.6 was good enough for 2nd and a Silver medal.
Day 2 and it was time for the men’s sprint. Tom Scammell qualified in 4th in a PB time of 10.34 seconds, with myself in 5th just behind on 10.40. Jack Plumbley, Matt Roper and Luke Burton also rode but unfortunately with only the top 12 progressing to the racing, they just missed out on the cut.
The 1st round went well for both of us, but unfortunately the seeding meant we met each other in the quarters, where I was able to get the better of Tom by just a wheel each time. That took me through to the semis where I faced the top seeds, and after some close racing, finished 4th. There was also time to squeeze in a tandem 200 TT with Neil, and our time of 10.11 was way above our expectations and enough for another Silver. Another great day.
The final day was the big one for the team! We had 3 team sprints entered represented by Matt Roper, Tom Scammell and me (team 1), Jack Plumbley, Mark Wiffen and James Brightwell (team 2), Liam Harper, Tim Ash-Edwards and Ash Ellis (team 3). There was also Nick Caton and Rich Youle-Grayling in a composite team of North West B.
For both team 2 and 3, this was their first major competition in the team sprint, and so it was great to see them deliver committed rides to produce the best times they could on the day. Nationals is a fantastic experience as you compete with Olympic and World champions whilst pushing yourself to do better. The boys loved it (not sure the man 3’s loved all of it), and I hope to see them back next year!
Team 1 had ambitions of a medal, and we showed our potential by qualifying 2nd, taking us through the semi finals, where we did our best ride of the day (45.8) to guarantee ourselves a silver medal, beating Sportcity and Scotland in the process. The final was against the GB team of Kenny, Hindes and Crampton, who put in a solid time of 44.0 to take the Gold.
Gold. I was delighted with the result and proud of the boys for delivering on the day. For Matt in particular, this had been his goal for the entire season and it shows that training for one specific day can result in the best possible results. It also meant a lot to me personally, to see the boys representing my team so well, on the biggest stage nationally. We were the only team with more than one team sprint and had double the number of sprinters than any other team. It felt like the culmination of a great year for Black Line, with just our team championships left on November 1st!
Matt Roper - Brixton Madison / National Sprinter's League Round
June the 21st brought along the much anticipated Brixton Madison, which was also hosting a round of the national sprinters league. Having gone the year before and had a great time it was an event which I had been looking forward too.
Looking at the start list before hand I knew it would be a very tough day ahead with a large majority of the best amateur sprinters coming in from all over England to race. As I am targeting the national sprinters league this year the aim was to pick up as many points as possible on the day, this started with the 200m time trial and rather promisingly I got a PB for Herne Hill with 11.41 sec putting me 4th in the rankings out of 33 people.
I was up against fellow team mate Tom Baker for the quarter finals, narrowly beating him to come against Miles Annon (who I had beat last year) in the semi finals, During the race against miles I was feeling confident, leading out from the front maintaining a nice gap between us but just missed a big jump from him on the last lap where he gained a large enough lead that I couldn’t match. Leaving me to finish in 4th place.
Next up was the keirin, it was a ridiculously close finish in the heat to get through to the final with only 2 riders going through and me, Michael Veen and Tom Baker crossing the line within half a wheels length between us, I got through and on to the final it was. Third person back from the derny following two SES riders and following behind was Ryan Owens (top qualifier) and Alistair Fielding along side him, the derny dropped off and the pace began to lift, with 3/4 of a lap to go Ryan made a big move over the top of me and the SES train with a nice gap for me to move out and follow him, coming into the last corner I was closing in on Ryan with some speed and moved out to overtake him, closely following was Alistair to my right and it was a drag race to the finish in the home straight with me crossing the line first then Alistair! I had won and it felt great.
The day was a big success and the team spirit and advice from Pete Mitchell only pushed everyone on to deliver the best rides they could, especially 2nd in the keirin final for Alistair, a new team Blackline recruit and only 15 years old!
New Team Launch & Brand For 2015
I am excited to announce the launch of a new team and brand for 2015, Black Line.
I have created Black Line to head the coaching services that I offer, as well as provide riders with a team that creates a welcoming environment for both training and racing. Put simply, the type of environment that allows people to excel in the sport they love.
So, why Black Line?
We are predominantly a track team and currently have 20 riders already signed up at a number of different tracks across the UK. This is a racing team, but there are no ability requirements so everyone is welcome. Having said that, we are fortunate enough to have a number of high level riders, from whom less experienced riders can learn from. This will be an active team, racing is what we are all about, and so I will be co-ordinating open meets to target to ensure that we are well represented and deliver as I believe a club and a team should.
We have been fortunate enough to be supported with clothing by PROJECT, an Australian firm recently launched in the UK, ensuring that we have top quality kit at a very competitive price.
The Black Line website shall be launched in March and the team debut at the Good Friday meet to be held at Lee Valley.
If anyone is interested in joining Black Line or would like to be added to the email list for updates, please contact me at petemitchell1990@gmail.com
