Stroud Green are the HSCL champions for the second year in a row. They dominated Round 6 in Downhills Park, re-asserting themselves at the top after North Harringay had looked to threaten their position after Round 5.

Eight schools battled it out on a grass track that featured a return of the infamous ‘vortex’: an oval course with a central section of progressively tighter, more technical turns, leading out to a fast, sweeping curve and final sprint to the line. Riders frequently came unstuck at the tightest bend in the early races, but by the finals most had learnt to negotiate the track skilfully and, in the case of the A-finalists especially, with impressive speed.

North Harringay finished second on points for the day, winning two B-finals. But they were only narrowly ahead of St. Mary’s, who tied with Stroud Green in the number of wins. The two schools shared the A-finals between them, with St. Mary’s taking both the boys and girls 24” races, while Stroud Green stamped their customary authority in the 26” category.

St. Aidan’s came third in the number of wins, including a C and B final, finishing 4th in the day’s points. Seven Sisters had their best outing of the season, winning three races in the 24” and 26” categories, including one C-final, to come 5th.

Risley struggled with a team of just eight due to a clash with the school’s sports day, taking the Girls 24″ B-final and finishing sixth in points. Despite also fielding a reduced team, Holy Trinity notched up their most points of this season, in just their fourth race outing with the League.

Belmont, meanwhile, brought another entirely new team to experience bike racing for the first time. If there were a separate prize for the most children taking part over the season — perhaps there should be? — Belmont would win it.

Full results and points-per-school

Congratulations to our 2022-23 podium!

Stroud Green 🥇
North Harringay 🥈
St. Mary’s 🥉

Round 6 brings to a close one of the most successful seasons in the League’s history, with the most schools and most riders at our races.

Thank you to all the schools for their support and commitment throughout the year.

And, as ever, special thanks to the volunteers that turn up to help, race after race after race…

The League depends on volunteers to help us bring the fun of bike racing to primary school children. There are plenty of ways to help — not just on race days — so please get in touch to find out how you can get involved.

With thanks to Leigh Day for their support of the 2022-23 season.

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

Round 5 saw North Harringay re-find their winning form last month, taking the most wins and topping the points table for the day.

Current trophy holders Stroud Green still dominated in the finals, however, winning three out of four A-finals and maintaining their lead in standings.

Other schools doing well were: Seven Sisters, with two wins in the finals, including their first ever A-final; and St. Mary’s, who tied with Stroud Green in the number of wins but, without any year 4 riders, missed out on bonus points.

Full results and points-per-school

With just one more round this season, it continues to look good for Stroud Green to hang onto the trophy for another year.

But with only each school’s top five rounds counting for the trophy competition, it’s not a done deal: just a handful of points separate them from an increasingly-confident North Harringay.

Meanwhile, St. Mary’s and Risley are set to battle it out for the other podium places.

With thanks to Leigh Day for their support for this year’s League.

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

After the winter interlude, League schools were back racing on grass at Ducketts Common.

And, as the 2022-23 race series moves past the half-way mark, Stroud Green re-asserted their dominance, taking the most wins and topping the point scoring for the day.

The reigning champions won an impressive six races, including two A-finals.

Next up in the number of wins were Risley and St. Mary’s, followed by Belmont, St. Aidan’s and Seven Sisters.

Despite only winning one race, North Harringay had a good day, finishing joint 2nd with St. Aidan’s in the points table, helped by a flurry of second and third places in the A-finals.

Holy Trinity, in just their second grass race with the League, and fielding a reduced team of eight riders, managed three second places, their best result yet.

Stroud Green have begun to open up a commanding lead in the points standings — though the gap is likely to narrow as, from Round 5, only schools’ top best scores will be counted.

Full results and points-per-school

With thanks to Leigh Day for their support for this year’s League.

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

The League’s annual winter roller racing event saw new fastest times in almost all race categories.

Teams from eight schools competed on roller-mounted track bikes, racing in groups of four over 500m virtual meters.

Stroud Green’s Year 6s set new League records for the fastest times in both boys and girls — 29.81 and 30.98 seconds respectively.

Next was Risley, hitting 31.05 seconds in the Year 5 Boys, with North Harringay close behind with 32.44 seconds in the Year 4 Boys.

Seven Sisters took 35.05 seconds to come first in the Year 5 Girls, while St. Aidan’s led the Year 4 Girls at 35.08 seconds.

Stroud Green’s fastest boys’ and girls’ times slashed last year’s records set by St. Aidan’s and North Harringay. Both times, however, fell just short of the non-League records set by Stroud Green and North Harringay in the 2021 pilot series.

St. Aidan’s dominance in the Y4 races helped them accrue the most points to finish the day on top with 260 points, with Belmont in second place (245) and North Harringay third (226).

Full results: rider times and points-per-school

Roller racing: record times

With thanks to Leigh Day for their support for this year’s League.

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

This month’s racing saw 78 riders from eight schools competing in 24 races on a cold December day at Ducketts Common. A record for the League: the most riders from the most schools, and the highest number of races we’ve ever compressed into a single round.

Weeks of wind and rain had left the ground soft and littered with leaves, making it a slippery course for the riders. Not that that slowed them much, or made them any the less determined to fight their way through the tight turns. Despite a fair number of slide-outs and crashes, only one rider failed to finish, with most being desperate to get back on the bike quickly and limit their losses. 

Beyond that, the unusual thing about the day was just how close it was: no one team dominated any of the categories, nor took more finals than any of the others.

It was a good day for League newcomers: in just their second appearance, Seven Sisters notched up three wins — including two finals. Meanwhile, Holy Trinity finished the day with one second and five third places, remarkable for a school’s first bike racing experience.

Were it not for the bonus points awarded to Year 4 riders, Stroud Green and St. Mary’s would have tied on the days points, with St. Aidan’s close behind.

But schools fielding only Year 5s and 6s were at a disadvantage. Risley, North Harringay and Belmont  took maximum benefit from the bonuses, with Risley — already finishing well with three wins, including one A-final — leapfrogging from third to first place in the standings.

See the full results and points-per-school.

Special mention has to be made of our brilliant team of volunteers and assistants for their help in organising the day, making sure we could get the racing done as quickly as possible — it was a cold day to be waiting trackside. Schools will be relieved to know our our next round will be indoor roller racing on 12 January.

With thanks to Leigh Day for their support for this year’s League.

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

Five schools took part in the inaugural round of the 2022-23 League at Ducketts Common last month.

Returning champions Stroud Green showed their now familiar form, taking the most points to set an early lead in the trophy standings competition.

Close behind in the points table were St. Mary’s who weren’t going to let Stroud Green have it all their own way. In probably their best League performance to date, they notched up the most wins on the day.

Risley and North Harringay came next, both teams taking advantage of the bonus points on offer for Year 4 riders.

Newcomers Seven Sisters had an auspicious start to their League career, taking a win in one of the Boys 26″ heats, and with two riders making the A-finals.

See the full results and points-per-school.

Round 2 will be in on 2nd December.

With thanks to Leigh Day for their support for this year’s League.

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

 

And congratulations to our 2021-22 podium!

 

Stroud Green      

North Harringay

Belmont Junior   

 

See you all again for more in the autumn term.

 

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

Herne Hill Velodrome, June 2022

Last week saw the return of the League’s annual visit to the Herne Hill Velodrome for a day of coaching on track bikes at the historic venue.

Always a favourite with our schools, it was great to be back after two years’ absence due to the pandemic.

Riders from four schools learnt the basics of riding track bikes — which have fixed wheels and no brakes — round the banked track.

They learned how to start and stop safely, how to pace themselves and control their distance from other riders, take turns at the front, and how to use the track’s banking to build speed.

It wouldn’t be right to go to Herne Hill and not actually take part in a race, so the day finished with an ‘English Pursuit’ team relay.

Herne Hill Velodrome, June 2022

Herne Hill Velodrome, June 2022

Herne Hill Velodrome, June 2022

Herne Hill Velodrome, June 2022

Herne Hill Velodrome, June 2022

Herne Hill Velodrome, June 2022

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.

Stroud Green’s win in the League’s trophy competition — which had seemed already a certainty half way through the season — was secured last Friday with another emphatic win at Round 6 in Downhills Park.

The school notched up 250 points over the day’s 16 races — and won six of them.

North Harringay came second with 237 points. They were the best-performing school when it came to the finals, taking three B-finals and two A-finals.

Risley were close behind NHP with 233 points, despite only winning one race, the Boys’ 24” heat.

St. Aidan’s came fourth on the day in points, winning the Girls 26” B-final and the Boys 26” A-final.

Belmont struggled to compete with a reduced team of eight riders. That didn’t stop them winning the Boys 26” second heat, however, and they finished the day with 139 points.

See the full results and points-per-school.

With only each school’s best 5 rounds counting for the end-of-season tally, Stroud Green’s position at the top of the standings was beyond reach by the end of the day.

‘The Vortex’: technical twist for Round 6

The five schools tackled another technically challenging course, with a series of tight turns and switchbacks compressed into a single, circular zone bounded by sweeping turns and a fast return straight.

We may hear a collective sigh of relief when the schools come back for the final round next month to find they’ll be racing on a simple oval course for a day of grass track racing, followed by the trophy presentation.

Find out more about the Haringey Schools Cycling League. If you’d like your school to take part, see How to Join.