2011 National Track Championships | 28th Sept - 2nd Oct | Manchester Velodrome
2011 event Details | Buy Tickets | Enter Event | Competition Schedule (pdf download)
As we build up to the 2011 National Track Championships, we are looking back at the outstanding 2010 championships which produced some of the best national title races ever seen at this historic venue. This is what happened on Day 3:
A points race which ended in a tie, the meeting of talent and experience in the women's sprint and a pursuit of the highest quality; day three of the national track championships provided a packed schedule of racing.
Victoria Pendleton made clear her form and intentions, retaining the national sprint title ahead of Becky James and Jess Varnish - two riders expected to inherit the crown of best British sprinter in years to come.
Last man to go, Bruce Croall of City of Edinburgh was the runaway winner of the Kilo Time Trial, slipping under 65 seconds in the process and putting himself over two seconds clear of Andrew Kelly. Ieuan Williams took third, just over a second further back.
The final of the women's Individual Pursuit saw Wendy Houvenaghel go into a 1.4 second lead after the first 1000 metres as Sarah Storey struggled to match her pace. Houvenaghel was into the same straight within 2 kilometers and went on to pass her rival with two laps to go and she then went on to finish with a rapid time of 3m 30.612s. Other names to feature included Dani King and Laura Trott.
In a tribute to the largely young inexperienced field, George Atkins was a worthy points race winner, with Simon Yates backing up his scratch race silver with another silver and confirming his exceptional potential.
A small but high quality field turned the Paracycling 200m Time Trial into something really special. There were World Records for newcomer Jon Butterworth and the experienced Jody Cundy, whilst tandem duos Helen Scott and Sophie Thornhill and Craig MacLean and Anthony Kappes would also have set new world bests if their respective pilots had not competed internationally within the last 2 years, which disqualifies them from official record setting. All-in-all it represented a remarkable competition with four out of five rides being world bests - how often can that have happened before?
The best of the action on video:
Video: The closest Points Race in years! Video: Sprint Semi-final, Varnish v James heat 1 Video: Sprint Semi-final, Varnish v James heat 1 Video: New World record for Jody Cundy Video: And another for Jon-Allen Butterworth Video: Bruce Croall's Kilo winning ride
