Location: National Cycling Centre, Manchester
Event: 26 - 30 September 2012

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Road world champions Lucy Garner and Elinor Barker return from Limburg with a fresh pair of rainbow jerseys to compete for another set of titles, this time at the British National Track Championships in Manchester.

Competition at the velodrome from 26-30 September will feature many of British Cycling’s Olympic Development and Academy Programme athletes – all hoping to walk away with a national title on the way to their ultimate ambition; to emulate the Olympic success achieved at London, in Rio 2016.

Women

Newly crowned junior road race world champion Lucy Garner and junior time trial champion Elinor Barker – both Olympic Development Programme athletes – compete fresh from the racing in Limburg. Barker, who took the rainbow jersey in a 15.6km test in Limburg last week will switch to the boards and the 3km team pursuit, riding alongside Emily Kay and 2012 Junior Track Cycling World Championship bronze medallist Amy Roberts. Barker will also compete for a place on the podium in the women’s Madison on Sunday.

Lucy Garner will also compete in the women’s team pursuit alongside Harriet Owen and Corrine Hall.

The women’s sprint events will feature two Olympic Academy athletes; Victoria Williamson and current British Champion Becky James, who is joined by her sister Rachel, the current national women's omnium series winner. In addition, junior British sprint champion Danielle Khan and silver medallist Jessica Crampton compete, both already having impressed selectors at a junior level, now look to show their form with Olympic Academy selections on the horizon. With the absence of both Jess Varnish and Victoria Pendleton in the 500m time trial, Becky James will also be looking to lay down the gauntlet on the opening night, joined by Lucy Garner who will also contest the team sprint on Saturday 29.

Men

British Cycling Olympic Development Programme athlete Jon Dibben, silver medallist in the junior world track championships, will race the points, scratch, individual pursuit team pursuit and the Madison. Dibben, who earned a bronze in the individual pursuit last year will be looking to better that placing, as will last year’s silver medallist, Sam Harrison. With current champion Steven Burke absent this year, they will both be trying hard to get on top of the podium.

The men’s sprint events will feature last year’s silver medallist in the match sprint, David Daniell, who is set to compete alongside new talent such as John Paul, Kian Emadi as well as sprint veteran and Paralympic medallist Craig Mclean. After an amazing ride against Jason Kenny in last year’s championships in which the Middlesbrough rider put the newly crowned Olympic chapion out of the running, Daniell will be looking to give selectors even more food for thought ahead of the world cup season, due to kick off in just a few weeks’ time. Last year’s kilo champion, Matthew Rotherham will be looking to hold on to his title from last year as well as showing his maturity gained through some impressive results on the international scene in the last 12 months including being crowned European champion in the event.

Paracycling

Amongst the most hotly contested and intriguing races of the week will be the three Paracycling British Championships. With some of the sport's most successful athletes ever, including Paralympic medallists Jody Cundy, Anthony Kappes, Rik Waddon and Aileen McGlynn all taking a break after competing at the Paralympics, there will be hotly contested podium places up for grabs. The one notable inclusion though, is London Paralympic gold medallist and new pursuit world record holder Mark Colbourne.

The three events, the standing time trial, The 200m flying time trial and the pursuit will feature a very unique scoring system. Every rider competes not only against their cycling opponents, but also against the record book. In short, a rider's time is measured against the world record for the distance and category and the rider is awarded points on a sliding scale: the closer they get to their corresponding world best, the more points they get. It's the nearest thing cycling has to the golf handicap system and it ensures that riders with a wide range of disabilities can compete against each other on a level playing field.

As well as household names, a number of athletes make a welcome return in this year's Championships: these include Mazyar Ossmiasaeed, an Iranian born rider who has recently taken up  British citizenship and Sophie Thornhill, a 16-year-old who won the 2012 British Paracycling Road Circuit Championships held in July.

The action kicks off at the National Cycling Centre from 5pm on Wednesday 26 September with the Open Individual Pursuit. There is no charge for entry to Wednesday and Thursday sessions. Tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday sessions can be purchased from Ticketmaster. British Cycling Members are able to use their membership to benefit from a 1/3 discount on all tickets prices. Log in to your British Cycling account to find out how to access this membership benefit. If you are a wheelchair user please call for tickets: 0844 847 1655

British Cycling will be bringing you a daily roundup from each session throughout the championships.