A SERIES of accidents marred the regional omnium curtain-raiser for Colchester Rovers' youth track riders.

Rovers travelled to the historic Herne Hill velodrome in south-east London, for the eastern and south-east regions event.

The club's riders largely stayed safe and pedalled their way to some good results across time trial, elimination, scratch and points races.

The most serious crash of the day took place in the Youth B boys' event.

A touch of wheels towards the front of the second group in the scratch race brought down a series of riders behind.

A fleet of ambulances arrived to ferry five riders to hospital and fortunately, none of the Rovers were amongst the worst hurt.

Tom Carson needed two stitches in some nasty cuts and Jake Crossley had some road rash which did not stop him getting back on his bike and finishing the omnium in a good 11th place.

Rovers have extended their best wishes to CC Ashwell's Nathan Hardy, who suffered a broken collarbone.

Rovers duo Jack Emerson and Theo Warren raced well amongst the under-14s, finishing 15th and 16th respectively.

The youngest Rover to compete was Bradley Taylor, in the Youth C (under 12) competition.

Following his good performance at the National Velodrome in Manchester the previous weekend, Taylor's best result came in the elimination with an 11th place, helping him to a good final 12th place in the final standings.

Bradley's older sister Jodie Taylor, in the colours of Tram Terminator, was strong all day, taking a series of fourth places in the races which made her a safe bet for fourth overall, the best of the first year riders in her Youth B (U14) category, behind a trio of strong second-year riders from host club VC Londres.

Colchester-based riders Ellie-May Pledger and Dexter Mansel-Thomas competed in the Youth A races, for Lee Valley Youth CC.

Pledger finished 13th fastest in the opening 900m time trial event, while Mansel-Thomas continued his strong track form in the under-16 boys' event.

A series of good finishes including a sixth in the final points contest led to ninth place overall.

It was the second-best performance from a first year under-16 rider.

The next event in this season's regional omniums for the eastern and south-east regions takes place at Gosling Sports Stadium's track, in Welwyn.