Revolution 21 – Cycling from the Manchester Velodrome
November 16, 2008
On arrival at the Manchester Velodrome last night I knew next to nothing about cycling, only that I had come to see a big event. Former Olympic gold medallist and wearer of the prestigious yellow jersey in the Tour de France, Australian Brad McGee, had chosen the night to host his last ever competitive cycling event, and the chance to see this, along with many other big names in cycling, such as O’Grady, Hayles and Millar, the drug cheat turned pioneering anti-doper, drew in a capacity crowd of 3,500, coming from all over Britain. Speaking to people outside the Velodrome at the start of the night, I found fans that had travelled from Leeds, Darlington, Nottinghamshire and Wales, and I also saw a couple of Chelsea football shirts. This was an event of national interest.
A couple who had travelled from Nottinghamshire told me that they thought our National Cycling Centre in Manchester was ‘Fantastic’, remarking that ‘the problem is that there should be more like it throughout Britain’. Fans from Yorkshire agreed that the Velodrome was ‘Impressive’, and added that on the night it was the prospect of McGee’s last race that had made them come. ‘It will be very exciting to see. The name McGee is certainly a big pull for the crowds’.
But Revolution 21 was not all just about big names. Six of the nineteen events on the night involved teenage riders competing in their own league, the DHL Future Stars Championship. Boys and girls representing the South East, South West, Scotland, North West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire, East Midlands, Eastern and Central England battled it out throughout the night, watched by a full crowd and their senior heroes. I spoke to Matt Winston, the Olympic Talent Coach for the North West. He told me that ‘Five of the Six riders (for the North West) were from Greater Manchester’, from areas such as Bolton and South Manchester. He informed me that the girls in his team, Jess Crampton, Sophie Gore and Melissa Bury, were very much a ‘development team’, but that he had high hopes for the boys, Chris Nicholson and twins Simon and Adam Yates. The girls rode well and showed great ability and heart, notably with Melissa Bury remounting he bike after an unfortunate and nasty fall in the girls 6 Lap Dash, going on to heroically complete the event. The boys were outstanding, working well as a team to secure second, third and fifth places from a field of thirty in their 6 Lap Dash event, and second, third and fourth places in their 5km Scratch Race, making them clearly the strongest region competing on the night. Matt was understandably chuffed with his team, and the future of Manchester’s cycling looks very promising.
As I was milling around the ‘elite’ competitors section, it was refreshing to see the camaraderie between athletes who minutes ago had been racing against each other. Unlike in other sports, there were no obvious rivalries off the rack or intense solitary concentration before events – the riders appeared just to be enjoying the night with each other. Of course, the standard was incredibly high throughout the night. Andy Fenn, a brilliant cyclist from Fallowfield in Manchester, told me ‘I train every day, twice most days’, and it was then that I realised the dedication of these athletes. It was plain to see how much they work for their sport – not only from the monstrous thigh and calf muscles that each competitor possessed, but also from the way that riders were physically sick after their events, such was the intensity. Lizzy Goodband, a competitor in the Elite Women’s class, told me that although she didn’t keep to a strict diet as such, she knew the importance of having a lunch high in carbohydrates before an event. Lizzy had travelled from Wales to compete, along with the sixteen-year-old prodigy Becky James, who secured victory in both the Elite Women’s Scratch Race over 8km and the Elite Women’s Devil Scratch Race. Another woman in the Elite category, the impressive Kacey Manderfield, was American. When I asked what Lizzy thought of the situation of the evening, she replied ‘The venue is excellent, up there with the best I’ve raced at. It’s weird seeing so many familiar faces from television walking around’. The presence of these famous cyclists speaks volumes about the event and how the Manchester Velodrome is perceived by riders. I am indebted to Lizzy and her mother for pointing out faces for me and explaining the ins and outs of each event as they happened, such was my ignorance of all things cycling before last night.
People in the know in the competitor’s section told me that David Brailsford MBE was the man responsible for British cycling’s recent success. ‘It is thanks to David that British cycling is doing exceptionally well’, one woman told me. I was lucky enough to share a few words with David in the evening, and he told me that he thought the night was ‘Fantastic’. I agreed, and meant it. ‘It’s a fantastic opportunity for the younger cyclists to be racing on the same track as the likes of Dave (Millar) in front of such a crowd’. Millar, once a drug cheat and now an influential figure in stamping drugs out of the sport, seemed happy to be racing again and was surrounded by friends all night, which was good to see.
Whilst the action on the track was pulsating, with Ed Clancy and Steven Burke recording the second fastest time ever in the Rothschild 1km Madison Time Trial, there was an opportunity for the spectators to get involved. ‘Rollapaluza’ set up a roller-racing stall, where people try to cover 1km of ground on a stationary bike, or a ‘roller’, in the shortest time possible. The record times were held by Craig MacLean and Chris Hoy, both established international cyclists, with times of 18.94 and 19.44 seconds respectively (!). The stall was busy all night, with loads of children wanting to have a go. A worker on the stall told me that he thought the ‘rollers’ were ‘Brilliant. The idea is to set up things like this all over the country, especially in London where there is no Velodrome at the moment. The beauty of it is that kids who can’t even ride a bike can do it and enjoy it’, he pointed out. The kids certainly looked to be enjoying it.
McGee, fittingly, managed to win an event on the night, the exciting 10km Scratch Race, to the delight of the crowd. An interview towards the end of the night with legend of cycling and commentator on the night Hugh Porter and McGee, was really appreciated by the audience, during which Porter referred to McGee as ‘A talented athlete who has given us so many great moments’. McGee then gave the crowd one more lap, through a guard of honour created by the other competitors in the Elite Men’s category. It was a respected end to a fantastic cycling career.
So, was it the abundance of talent on show that made me fascinated by cycling? Or the incredible show of speed from the Olympic sprinting teams, the fastest of which reached 42.766 mph? Perhaps it was the way that some cyclists had to continue for three laps after their race ended to reach a slow enough speed to safely exit the track, as they had no brakes (can you imagine travelling over 40 mph without brakes?!), or the roar of the crowd when the athletes dug deep for speed on their last lap. I don’t know, but yesterday I changed from being entirely ignorant of cycling as a sport to an enthusiast, all in four hours of incessant action. And I bet that more than a few of the many children in the crowd would have been taken in by the atmosphere as well…
The future of British cycling, and of Manchester’s National Cycling Centre, looks just as bright as the present.
