Day 1 of the 2026 British Individual Championships gets underway tomorrow at Wednesfield with 3 Open Qualifiers featuring 13 of the riders who qualified for last year’s final at Southampton. 4 of those riders take part in the first qualifier at 10am, namely the reigning European Open Champion Luca Woodhouse (Great Blakenham), the reigning World Champion Lewis Brinkhoff (Great Blakenham), the 2018 and 2024 British Champion Josh Brooke (Great Blakenham) and Birmingham’s Chris Timms. Also competing in this qualifier are Frank White (Astley & Tyldesley), Sam Dart (Exeter), Joe Gillespie (Southampton), Ryan Jones (Newport), Scott Millward (Birmingham), Jamie Palmer (Birmingham), Lewis Foxley (Birmingham), Craig Marchant (Great Blakenham), Harvey Yard (Newport) and Sam Stansfield (Edinburgh).
The 2nd Open Qualifier at 11.30am and of the 14 riders taking part 9 of them reached the final last year. Those 9 are Tom Colling (Southampton), James Porter (Ipswich), Gavin Wheeler (Southampton), Feroze Langoo (Poole), Ben Mould (Birmingham), Noah Woodhouse (Great Blakenham) and Paul Heard (Birmingham). Also taking part are Owen Johnson (Horspath), Jamie Randall (Poole), Mark Boaler (Horspath), Tom Alexander (Horspath), Jack Herbert (Ipswich) and Teddy Curtis (Poole). Edinburgh’s Ewan Tulloch was due to take part but has withdrawn due to injuries sustained in a crash at Northumbria last Sunday. Heard, Wheeler, Boaler and Mould are all former champions of the Open category. Heard won in 2019, 2022 & 2023, Boaler won in 2010 & 2021, Wheeler won his titles in 2002 & 2008 whilst Mould was victorious in 2016
The 3rd Open Qualifier at 1pm sees Mark Carmichael (Horspath) begin the defence of the title he won last year at Southampton. Ashley Hill (Ipswich) also was a finalist last year whilst Oliver Saunders (Poole) was an unused reserve. Also entered are Luke Whitehead (Leicester), Corey Burt (Wednesfield), James Colling (Southampton), Luke Draisey (Birmingham), Josh Hill (East Park), Noah Lyon (Hull), Richard Felgett (Ipswich), Michael Baldock (Bury), Jake Wood (Exeter), Ben Clarke (Ipswich), Oliver Banyard (Sheffield) and Jude Wilcockson (Coventry
The top 10 riders from each of these qualifiers will progress to the semi-finals whilst the 11th placed riders will have a run-off with the first 2 going through to the semi-finals and the 3rd place rider becoming 1st reserve in semi-final 1. There will also be a run-off for the 12th placed riders with the winner becoming 1st reserve in semi-final 2, 2nd place will be 2nd reserve in semi-final 1 and 3rd place will be 2nd reserve in semi-final 2. Those run-offs will take place at 3.15pm
Before those run-offs the Under 16 Open Pre-Qualifying round will take place with 6 of the riders who rode in last year’s final at Southampton entered this time round. They are the World Under 16 Open Champion Teddy Curtis (Poole), Jamie Randall (Poole), Kalem Martin (Newport), Oliver Banyard (Sheffield), Sam Comben (Southampton) and Joe Gillespie (Southampton). The Kesgrave duo of Theo Case and Isaac Powling will be looking to make the final this year after having to withdraw from last year’s final. Also looking for a place in the final will be Charlie Spurgeon (Kesgrave), Frank White (Astley & Tyldesley), Harry Gibson (Hull), Jacob Jewkes (Wednesfield), Nathan Slight (Edinburgh), Harry Ridley (Hellingly), Carson East (Coventry), Alex Rudge (Edinburgh) and Connor Jarrett (Kesgrave). The final is scheduled to take place at 5pm
After the Open Semi-Final run-offs the British Under 16 Girls Championship will be the first title to be decided and 8 of the riders who rode in last year’s event at Poole are entered on this occasion. They are Amberley Gant (Kesgrave), Yoanna Gilpin (Coventry), Esmae Lewis (Newport), Millie Shear (Poole), Ava Chapman (Poole), Maisy Baker (Ipswich), Lacey Ackroyd (Sheffield) and Lola Martin (Hethersett). Also entered are Nyla Aris (Wednesfield), Tilly Shear (Poole), Freya Curran’s (Exeter) and Tallulah Curtis (Poole)
Day 1 will be rounded off by the Under 16 Open Final which is due to start at 5pm
