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last day of the track worlds - our man on the spot

sunday was amazing - no records broken- however those that part took in racing around the wood in downtown manchester - were superb. The world was in a 250metre zone - riders from cuba to china spanning the globe. there were supporters too, many from scottishland, as well as south of the border and from other nations too.

it seemed though, that unless you were female, it was going to be great britain or the netherlands or china that were to be in frame. races from sprint to the mad mad madison were exciting, exasperating and exhausting. having a track side seat was simply superb and where in the sporting world can one brush up against such stars?

of course, whenever you goes to a 'meet' there is bound to be at least one other person you will know (cycling is a fairly small global club) but imagine the suprise when we found ourselves in front of tom hunter (overseas director of velo club d'ardbeg) and the meadow bank gang! yes really - there they were and it seemed all of a wee bit of scotland was there supporting the scottish - sorry, british - team.

if you've never been to a track event before i urge you to go. it's fast (up to 70kph), furious (have you seen those quads?) and fantastic (how does anybody measure the laps on the madison?). The racing at manchester is something else; it is an international venue and the staff were brilliant. We had a couple of disabled folks in our group, and the staff ensured that they had as good a time as everyone else. there were kids, old folks, serious cyclists and families on a day out. everyone had a great time and all the races were enthralling. i even caught up with david bromley of bromley video.

a press pass enabled us to get inside the track centre to witness the serious warming up, mechanics at work, judges with lots of red tape and the shockingly heath robinson bike weighing contraption, taped and bindertwined, which would make a bunch of farmers blush.

this time though, on top of the madison, scratch and sprints, there was a keirin; this is a japanese invention where a derny (a puch engined phut-phut moped) leads the riders around the track for up to five and a half laps pacing to ridiculous speeds and then pulls off. as it does so, all hell lets loose for two and a half laps where all six riders clamour and hammer for position. the crowd yell and drum on the track walls, and it it becomes like a mediaeval battle. the bell then goes to signify the final lap and the volume increases.

it was chris hoy's day - the man was utterly brilliant and a joy to watch. not only in winning the keirin which, as it happens, has made him £10 grand better off (where's the party chris?) but also every sprint too! what a guy.

the pity is that there is only one covered track in the country. It is fairly central but there needs to be more, and world champions a few and far between - today we had three!

jez hastings

jez was obviously overtaken by the excitement of the event and forgot that there is also a covered track at newport and also at calshot. many thanks to niall mccoubrie for pointing this out. mr hastings has had his fixed sprockets confiscated, and made to stand in the corner.

as always, if you have any comments on this nonsense, please feel free to e-mail and thanks for reading.