Stonehaven’s Arabella Blackburn said she achieved a “dream” in winning at the British Cycling National Youth Circuit Race Championships
The highly-rated 13-year-old Aberdeenshire rider triumphed a Redbrige Cycling Centre in London on Saturday in the under-14s event, which saw the youngsters complete multiple laps of a 2km course.
It took until the final few laps of the race for a few riders to break away from the pack, with Deeside Thistle Youth Cycling Club’s Arabella powering through the circuit’s final hill climb to clinch victory.
The Lathallan School pupil, who overcame a small puncture to her back tyre suffered with two laps to go, said: “Although the pain in my legs was so intense, all I could think was ‘keep going, get to the line’.
“When I crossed the line and realised that I had won the race, I could barely believe that my dream and goal of the year had come true.
“I am looking forward to wearing the champions jersey for the rest of the year, and would like to say a massive thanks to the coaches from Deeside Thistle YCC.”
New British champion Arabella is relatively young for the U14s age category and is also making a strong charge in the British National Series this season ahead of moving up to U16s next year, and added: “Next season is a cyclo-cross season and I’ll be in the first year at U16, so I’m quite hoping to do well in that as well and maybe get a top five.
“I really enjoy that, because it’s not just about who is the biggest and strongest, it’s all about technicality and things.
“Long term, I think, if possible I’d like to compete for Britain internationally and go to events in Europe.”
Teacher urged Arabella to take up sport
Arabella – who had previously won Scottish U12 titles in the road, track and cyclo-cross disciplines – began cycling in primary four, according to mum Saskia, following encouragement from Lathallan School teacher Oliver Carter – a keen triathlete and cyclist himself.
Although the Blackburn family have always been keen on going out on their mountain bikes, Carter saw Arabella had potential in organised cycling after she attended his triathlon club at the school.
Saskia, who laughed as she recalled dismissing Carter’s initial urging to get Arabella involved in the sport, said: “He was waiting for me at the school when I went to pick her up and said: ‘she’s got a really good position on the bike and she’s really talented’. I laughed it off, saying: ‘I’m from the Netherlands, we cycle by means, and she’s done mountain biking from a young age’.
“But he said: ‘No no, I can see it, I know about these things and you should put her in a cycling club’, which I ignored.
“A few months later, he asked me again and Arabella said she’d quite like to do it, so that’s when we put her on the waiting list for Deeside Thistle and she joined four years ago.
“That’s how it all started.”
Saskia – who is full of praise for the work done by Knockburn-based Deeside Thistle – says her daughter had expressed her goal of winning the U14 British title while she “worked hard” during winter training, telling her: ‘Someone has to win it and I want to be that person’.
Young cyclists being mentored by Olympian
Arabella is one of a number of talented youngsters coached at the Deeside Thistle club by Sarah Rowe, nee Phillips, who was a Scottish and British time trial champion over multiple distances in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Sarah also competed on the track for Scotland at the 1994 Commonwealth Games and for Britain at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, finishing 19th in the road race and 21st in the time trial.
With her expert eye, Sarah thinks Arabella could have a big future in cycling, whether on the road or on the track, saying: “She’s certainly got the talent, she’s got the determination and focus, and the future’s bright for her.
“We had five riders down on Saturday. There are another couple who are up there – they maybe didn’t win the champs, but one was on the podium last week in a British event, while one of the other girls finished 22nd in the U16s and one of the boys finished 14th in the U14s.
“They’re not dominating their age group like Arabella is, but they are certainly there for her to look up to as well and to help inspire her too, which is good.
“I think we’ve got a good coaching set-up, where the riders joined quite young and stayed with us. It’s certainly working the coaching we do, while we also have quite a lot of girls in the club, which is unusual.
“We’re very lucky – and we keep trying to build on it.”
Interested in getting involved in cycling with Deeside Thistle?
The contact email for youth membership enquiries is: youth@deeside.org