A group of ten Team Royal London 360 members were at the Manchester velodrome recently to compete in the inaugural Manchester Youth Cup track meeting. The invitation only event was organised by British Cycling's Regional School of Racing to give youth riders the opportunity to experience a wide variety of bunch racing events in preparation for the forthcoming national track championships. The event was open to the under 12, under 14 and under 16 youth categories and was run as an omnium competition consisting of team sprints, time trials, devils, scratch races, handicaps and points races. Divided into eight separate teams, the Manx youngsters excelled in the individual age groups, coming away with two overall victories and several top six placings. In the under 12's category Eleanor Davies won her handicap, finished second in the team sprint, fourth in the scratch race and seventh in the devil to win the individual points competition. William Draper was first in the devil and scratch races but dropped points in the team sprint and handicap, finishing equal third overall. In the under 14's Matthew Bostock won the time trial, came third in the scratch race, fifth in the points and ninth in the devil to top the overall points table. Nathan Draper scored a win in the scratch race, a second in the time trial and a sixth in both the points and the devil to take third spot overall, with Victoria Kinrade picking up a first and fourth in the team and individual time trials, a fifth in the devil, a ninth in the points and a ninth in the scratch race for sixth overall. Matthew Draper produced one of the best rides of the day to win the points race in impressive style. He also finished third in the scratch race, sixth in the four lap time trial and 11th in the devil to secure seventh overall. Elizabeth Holden crashed heavily in the very first event when the rider in front of her pulled a foot out, leaving her nowhere to go. She soon recovered, however, and went on to record solid 12th places in the time trial and scratch race and a brace of 14th positions in the devil and points for joint 12th overall. In the under 16's class Josh Knights posted a third in the points, a fifth in the time trial, a sixth in the devil and a ninth in the scratch race to finish fifth in the final points table. Jamie Dudley was fifth in the points and scratch races, eighth in the time trial and tenth in the devil for eighth overall, while Matthew Davies scored a fifth in the devil, 12th in the scratch and time trial and 13th in the points to take tenth spot overall. Finally, the West Midlands squad, containing Nathan Draper and Joshua Knights, won the team competition from the North West, which had no IOM members, and Maxgear, which included William Draper and Matthew Davies. - Ends -