Quillan Isidore returns for lively start to BMX season in Manchester

A few nerves in the gate may have hampered Quillan Isidore in his first race of the season, but there was enough on show to give him hope for the rest of the campaign.

A place at Rio is a big ask for the 19-year-old from south London, but there are plenty of qualification points up for grabs in the coming months and the Sky Academy Sports Scholar is determined to put everything on the line.

Isidore was back in the saddle at the weekend for the first two rounds of the British BMX series at the Manchester Cycling Centre. 

Apart from a few early hiccups, Isidore hit back to end the weekend on a high, as he began the final stretch of his Olympic qualifying journey. 

Find out what happened, how he fought back and his feelings on the bigger challenges ahead.... 

Things were going really well into the lead-up to this event. I was really happy with my progression in training, I was feeling confident and I could see myself on the podium.

I didn't quite get off to the start I had been hoping for but overall, I was really pleased with my performances at the weekend.

Saturday evening was the Supercross Open where Olympic points were being fought for and I was up against a good field of European riders. In practice I possibly had the worst starts technically, and times I've recorded in months.

I was stressing and overthinking the process that I had practised hundreds of times. It was the first race of the season and I wanted to go fast.

It affected me and I was clipped out in my first race and I came sixth. In my second heat, I pulled through in second after a scary moment, pedalling at the bottom of the hill. You're not supposed to do that at Manchester, as it usually sends you over the bars when you take off!

I completed my comeback by winning my third heat. I also won my quarter-final and even got a personal best lap time with my best start of the weekend.

I was really pleased because last year I would have been stuck in that rut and not recovered mentally from those disappointing performances. It wasn't to last though because I got a bit too eager in my semi-final and hit the gate.

It meant I had to work from the back. I got up to fourth place, but being on the outside I got squeezed and that was my day over!

Day two, on Sunday, was a long one. The first block of racing was the 17+ category called the Manchester Cup.

Most of the riders from the Saturday night were competing in it. Racing started at 10am and I got off to a great start.

I won all my heats, quarter-final and semi-final. I was much more relaxed and, more importantly, having fun racing again. The breaks in between the races were pretty short throughout the weekend - around five minutes each. It was pretty tough. But come final time I had first pick of the lanes, so of course, I chose lane one.

This time I was too relaxed and fluffed the start, which I'd been really consistent at all day. The race was done for me and I finished sixth, after struggling to work my way back.

I was pretty disappointed after I finished, but as soon as I reflected a bit more I felt it was all part of a learning curve. I was really happy with how I raced in the morning and I know it's something I can build on going into the first two European rounds in Belgium.

I entered a second race in the afternoon just for fitness, in order to prepare for Belgium in April.

This class was called Superclass - renamed from Elite Men because some riders, such as my brother, should race in the 16s but aren't eligible to race off the Olympic hill.

Unlike the other two races I competed in, this class counted towards the national points series for the year.

Although the competition wasn't a challenge, I had to give 100 per cent in every lap to really work on my fitness.

My legs felt heavier and heavier every lap and I had to deal with a lot of lactic acid. I put together some great laps and a personal best from the little hill secured the win.

Overall, I was very happy with my riding and it's a great platform to work from. I'm now going to get my head down for the next couple of weeks in preparation for my first two European races.

WHAT'S COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS..............

MARCH 19: Sam Oldham, English Championships, Loughborough

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3: Jessica Judd, pre-season training in USA

APRIL 9/10: Sam Oldham, British Championships, Liverpool