Archive for category: News

An Account of Sue and Dave Smith’s achievements at the Vets Olympics.

We arrived in Turin on Wednesday last week and camped out at the track — Velodromo P.Francone — which is just north of Turin Airport. It is an outdoor 400 metre concrete track that has been used for World Cup events and all sorts of championships over the past few years, but has suffered a bit and is now very bumpy, although the surface itself feels fast. It is the same length as Newcastle Track, but a similar contour to Wolverhampton, if that makes sense. Very technical to ride with the uneven surface.

Friday 2nd August was the opening day of the World Masters Games and we were racing at the velodrome in the 500 metre time trials.  The WMG is run by the International Masters Games Association, takes place every 4 years, and includes a wide range of sports from football and hockey, to Judo and bowls! And, of course, cycling – track, road race, criterium, road time trial and mountain bike. Last time the championships were in Sydney, this year Turin, and in 2017 they will be in Aukland. Cycle racing is organised in 5 year age bands from 30 upwards and this year there looks to be around 500 cyclists taking part from all over the world.

Many of the events are based in Valentino Park in the heart of the city, but the track being used  is 20km to the north.  The Games started well for us. Although racing in 30+ degrees C (in the shade), we knew it would be hot and had prepared accordingly. The 500m TT involved waiting in the middle of the track, with no shade, while your competitors each had their attempt to set the fastest time. A cold T-shirt soaked in water and draped over your head works a treat for keeping cool!

My event came first. We knew that an outdoor track is always slower than a fast indoor one, but despite that, I rode 3 tenths of a second quicker than at the National Masters earlier this year and won the event by a comfortable margin, with an American in 2nd and an Aussie 3rd.

Sue was up soon after and also rode faster than she did at the Nationals to take Gold. A superb result – two World Masters Games titles in one day!

Thankfully, Saturday 3rd August wasn’t quite as hot as the previous day, as I was riding the Sprint competition and Sue the Pursuit. It’s one thing warming up and then racing for just over half a minute, but another thing entirely racing a qualifying 200m time trial, then rounds and semis and finals that are best of three heats. Starting at 8am on my warm up, I would have to ride up to 7 times in the day and finish around 7pm if all went to plan. In the 2000 metre Pursuit, Sue would have to ride a qualifying race, with only the top 4 going through to ride off for Gold/Silver or Bronze/nothing – and then if all went to plan, ride again in the afternoon for the medals.

The best thing about the heat is that once you have warmed up, it’s very easy to stay there; you just need to be careful to keep hydrated properly and not overheat. Quite the opposite from most outdoor events in the UK!  In the Sprint, I qualified fastest in my age group in 12.4s, a time which would have qualified me 2nd in each of the younger age groups! It’s difficult to describe how it feels to ride a Sprint competition, you get confidence from qualifying well, but it increases the pressure to deliver. Matched against an opponent, when tactics come into play, it is all too easy to lose against a rider who was slower in the qualifying (believe me – I’ve done it!).

The semi-finals were really to my taste though – matched against a single rider over two laps of the track, with the best rider over three heats going through to the final. My opponent was an Australian who was the slowest of the semi-finalists and I beat him 2-0 and reasonably comfortably, saving some energy in the 2nd and deciding heat. The Russian I was to meet in the final was only 4/10s slower than me in the 200m qualifier, and looked to be much more tricky to ride against.

After a short delay for medal ceremonies and Sue’s pursuit final, I was on again and very focused. I was drawn position 2, higher up the track for the held start, and allowed the Russian to take the lead. I was sure he would keep it slow and try to get me in front so he could use his impressive jump from slow speed (like he did in the semi-finals). As the 2nd lap started, I was still tracking him from behind and kicked off the sprint just when he didn’t expect it – right at the steepest part of the 1st bend. I must have dropped him for at least 30 metres, and although I eased up going into the final bends, when I saw he had not given up, I gave another burst to extend even further and put him right on the back foot for the 2nd heat!

In heat 2, I was obliged to take the lower position 1 at the start and to take the lead. My plan was either to get him to the front, or if that failed, to increase the speed progressively to nullify the sharpness of his jump. It was plan B – after cat and mouse for a lap, I started to raise the speed and we were doing about 25mph in the back straight when he made his attempt to jump past me and get in front before the last bends. But I was ready for it and held him next to me as we entered the corner, then accelerated away down the straight for the win – 2-0 again for much relief and my 2nd championship win.

During all this, Sue was having her own battles in the Pursuit. The times being recorded were slow by indoor standards – I think the intense heat that so suited us for the shortest events were taking a toll in an event which although sounds short (2000m) is probably the hardest and most intense event on the track. She qualified 3rd fastest of all the women (all ages) in the morning, but all the top riders were only a few seconds apart – it would all be about who could recover best for the medal rides in the afternoon. Sue was in the worst position – the 3rd and 4th qualifiers ride off for the bronze medal or nothing. If you qualify in the top 2, at least you are guaranteed a medal.

Sue was drawn against an American who set off at a blistering pace from the start and was quickly 20 metres up. I was “walking the line” for Sue, showing her how far she was up or down as she came past the start/finish each lap. In the finals it’s not about times – it’s a race against the rider on the opposite side of the track. I was hoping that Sue would up the pace (she was looking comfortable) and /or that the American would crack. At half distance the gap was still 15m, but then the American started to show signs that she was suffering. Sue was upping the pace and only 5m in arrears as the last lap started. With half a lap to go Sue was in control, 10m in front and surging for the line. What a win! 20m ahead and a thoroughly well deserved Bronze medal. One of the most exciting races of the day, and many thanks due to Carolien Van Herrickhuyzen of the Netherlands for helping her out while I was “otherwise engaged”.

Well, apologies for that rather long version of events. The short version is as follows:

Had a good time at the track, three World Masters Championships and a bronze between us.

Now to get ready for the road time trial tomorrow. And it’s still chuffing hot!

Dave