Beijing Paralympic Hopefuls on Track Tomorrow in Manchester
Tuesday 6th May 2008
By Larry Hickmott
Starting tomorrow (May 8) at the National Cycling Centre, some of the world’s best elite athletes with a disability from the world of cycling, will gather for the biggest pre-Beijing competition on the track. Now in its fourth year, the 2008 Paralympic World Cup will be the biggest yet with close to 400 athletes from 45 different countries using the multi-discipline event to fine tune their preparations ahead of the Paralympic Games in Beijing in September.
With an additional day of competition added to the track cycling and record numbers taking part across all four sports, the event is sure to offer a real platform for those aiming to be successful at the Paralympic Games.
Anthony Kappes
Speaking today on the eve of action getting under way in Manchester were four of Britain’s best hopes for Beijing including cyclist Anthony Kappes who will have high hopes of a golden double in Manchester and Beijing. The World champion paralympian Anthony Kappes, a local favourite, has enjoyed success at the Paralympic World Cup before and is aiming for a repeat this week.
He told a press conference “It is rare to get the chance to compete on home soil against such top athletes so I have been preparing for this event for a while. With the additional level of competition in the cycling competition, I would encourage anyone who hasn’t experienced elite disability sport before to come along to all the venues and support Team GB.”
Talking to Anthony at a training camp he explained that looking back, it hasn’t taken long to get to this point in his career, adding “when I first started in 2005, the thought of Beijing was such a long time away you weren’t even thinking about it. Now we are a few months way it is now big on the horizon.”
At Manchester, Anthony will be racing with Jon Norfolk as his pilot. Asked how the transition has been going from the back of seat of Barney Storey’s tandem to the one on Jon’s, Anthony explained “it’s been managed very well. In the past couple of years I have done bits and pieces with Jon where it has been a good idea to do that and then when big competitions have come along, I phased out the training with Jon and phased in the training with Barney.”
“They are very different guys to ride with in their stature and the way they ride the bike, so you have unlearn some stuff and relearn some stuff but that is not a difficult process as long as you can get the time on the bike on the track. Compared to Jon, I am still the novice and he is keen to turn some heads.”
Looking ahead to Beijing where he hopes to don the GB colours for the first time in an Paralympic arena, he told us “I think Beijing is going to be the time when we arrive to put into performances that we dare not talk about now – we have a feeling of what we can do but we dare not say it. If we can actually get there and do what we are capable of, it will be great.”
Anyone who has watched Anthony over the last few years on the back of Barney’s tandem, will have seen the exaltation on his face as he’s won gold or broken a world record. On this he says “I don’t really think of myself as being competitive but when you put the skinsuit on and you roll on to the track, its almost like a departure from you’re normal character which is odd.”
“Considering yourself to be being better than anybody else at what you do is an odd feeling.” On his events like the Kilometre, he says “it’s an event where you are not influenced by other people once you’re on the track. You know you only have one chance and 60 odd seconds to prove what you can do -- that is quite a focus knowing you have to get it right.”
Anthony’s disability is his blindness so we asked how does he train. On a turbo he replied and so we had to ask has he a secret formula to get past the boredom there can be using a stationary bike? “The 20 times table” he replies. “The turbo requires a bit of discipline. The longer sessions are two and half an hours and Barney structures them for me. He’s good at breaking them down into segments of 20 minutes of this and 20 minutes of that for example. So its not just about two and half hours of pedalling. You can occupy yourself to an extent by keeping an eye on your heart rate, your power output and cadence etc. After that, you just have to sit and bear it.”
Anthony also does gym work, three times a week and track work with Jon to supplement the turbo work. “There are a lot of hours involved” he told us. “With the gym days, and the track work, the number of hours and the physical work load mean that you really do feel you have done a days work at the end of it”
Finally, what is it like to cross the line and see the board at the top of the track flash up World Record! “It’s a rush, a buzz!” he replied. Anthony then likened the ride on the tandem to being on a self propelled roller coaster. “The harder you work, the faster you go, the more fun it is, especially diving into and out of the bankings and the adrenalin rush that comes with that.”
A new start for Norfolk
Steering the tandem with Anthony on the back will be a familiar face at World Class abled bodied competitions -- Jon Norfolk. Because of the rules allowing able bodied athletes to ride with disabled athletes, Jon has had to wait three years before he could ride as a pilot in a Paralympic events. His last able bodied event was the Sydney World Track three years ago and since then he’s been unable to compete in either able bodied world class events or Paralympic ones either. It’s been a long wait and Manchester will be the big return to the lime light!
“Three years ago, I had chronic fatigue when I went to Sydney and was 4th in the Kilo but I never got up to the level I wanted to get to. Also, this all happened at the same time as the Kilometre was axed from the Olympics so I was faced with knocking it on the head, possibly going for a Commonwealth Games slot as a solo rider or sitting out the three year wait and taking up the Paralympic option”.
“It was not an easy decision. It was career changing decision where I would have to change everything and focus on this and sacrifice a solo career. I was at the point where potentially I had gone as far as I could as a solo rider and at that point we had new guys like Matt Crampton, Jason Kenny and so on turning up and it was getting busier and busier. Right now they have seven people for three places!”
“I may not be great at maths but I can work that one out!”
“So taking a step back from that, I felt there is a certain amount of security in this and it was also a good challenge. As a bike rider, I don’t feel I have got the best out of myself so whatever vehicle I can take to extend my career for a few years and get to where ever I can get to is really great”.
A three year wait is a long time to be on the sidelines for a person as competitive as Jon. He explained it this way saying “to be climbing a mountain and not be allowed to get to the top was frustrating. It was like being a formula 1 test driver and then watching some one else take the car to the race.”
“During the past three years I have rode solo with a little tandem work to begin with and in the last couple of years, Barney and me have shared some tandems between us and Anthony has come out as the strongest stoker around. Barney has ridden with him in the World Cups and World Championships and I have ridden with Anthony in between to keep my hand in on the tandem.”
“We have always done good times in the trials but with no competitions that I can ride in, it has been difficult to prove ourselves. Time wise I think we’re in a good position in the Kilo and Sprint and potentially we’re looking at the road time trial as well and maybe we’ll even slip into the road race. Both of us have a little bit of endurance about us so we may jump in and see what happens.”
After such a long wait, does it feel like he is being thrown in at the deep end now with the Paralympics only five months away? “A little but I was lucky enough to travel to the World Cup in Beijing last year as a spectator to get a feel for a major championship.”
“On the track, it will be very different and with the kilometre being a timed event, I’m confident of being able to do well in a pressure environment such as the Paralympic arena. It’s all about not letting the event distract you and concentrate on what you have to do. I’m looking forward to it.”
Aileen McGlynn – onwards and upwards
Where as for Jon it will be a new experience, a certain Scottish lady, Aileen McGlynn (pictured on the back of the tandem last year at the Paralympic World Cup), has been there done, it and got the Gold medals to prove it. Asked has it felt like ages since she stood on the podium in Athens to get those Gold medals with Ellen Hunter, Aileen replied “no, not at all. It has flown by quite quickly and I can’t believe that we’re in the lead up to the next Paralympic games.”
Asked does she feel better prepared this time with so much racing and world titles coming her way since Athens? “Definitely. Each World championships we meet the competition we are going to be up against. There could be a few that come out of the wood work in Beijing but we have to always be on our guard and keep pushing forward.”
Aileen has also had the same pilot for the years before and after Athens, Ellen Hunter. Aileen says of her “she is really good, a fantastic pilot and I have a lot of confidence in her. She works hard and I know she is working as hard as me so that is really good.”
Asked have there been any changes since Athens, Aileen explained “we have progressed since Athens.. We decided in the last year or so to do some endurance work for the last two laps of the kilometre and at the last Worlds we thought we’ll give the pursuit a go. Then we changed our minds because we felt it might affect our kilometre and decided to focus on the Kilo.”
“However, at the last minute we decided to ride the Pursuit at the Worlds and qualified fastest. That was a real shock because we did not do any pursuit pacing on anything and we just rode it. So we are now looking to do both the kilometre and the pursuit in Beijing.”
With the Manchester Paralympic World Cup being such a major milestone in their build up for Beijing, there has been a lot of work going in the back ground in the last six months. Last November, they made the journey to Columbia where Aileen and Ellen set an unofficial world record out there of a 1.09.
A number of training camps here and abroad have followed which Aileen says have been really good. You can sense that getting together as a team on a regular basis not only helps them training on the bike but also the morale of the group as a whole as they continue their gradual build-up for Beijing. “The camps are really important” Aileen stresses. “The Majorca camp doing road miles, hill climbing, time trials and being with the others and being able to chat and so on was a really great time.”
“I can feel a little isolated away from the track at times up in Scotland and I do my most of my training in the house by myself. That is a good thing in a way as I have to push myself . I know I have to do it. I like staying in Scotland though and getting out on the roads on a tandem. My club take me out on a Sunday and during the week to help with me in my training. I have around four guys I can call on to take me out on the tandem and I am thinking of doing some time trials with them too.”
The Paralympic World Cup will be a big test Aileen told us but with their track record, those filling the stadium at the Velodrome will be in for a treat when ever Aileen and Ellen get on the track because they are sure to be provide the crowd and their rivals with a surprise or two!
Rik Waddon stepping up in the World
One of the GB team who won’t be travelling far for the Paralympic World Cup is a very determined Rik Waddon (centre in picture above) who lives in the apartments near the Velodrome. It’s been a roller coast four years for the CP rider and he explained that recently he’s had a category change back to CP3 where he was originally classified in 2001.
“That makes things more realistic for me” he told us. “It also gives us more options for the Team Sprint and its all looking good for the qualification for Beijing”.
“Four years ago, I wasn’t looking that far ahead and Beijing. For Athens, GB was only given limited places and a lot of people met the qualifying standards so it went to a panel of judges who decided on who would bring back the most medals and unfortunately I missed out”
“That was very disheartening because I had worked hard for three years previously for Athens. But I went away from that and concentrated on my fitness and endurance. Then, I won the Disability TT in September 2004 which gave me a bit of a boost and then carried on with the Europeans in 2005 and the Team Sprint which was the new event for us. To do that, I switched to sprint events.”
The GB team have had mixed success in the Team Sprint. They are the quickest but the officials haven’t always been kind to them and so they only have one World Title to their name. And that was tight as Rik explained.
“At the Worlds last year, the Chinese have come on in leaps and bounds. Before that we had a comfortable margin over the rest of the world but the Chinese were close to us last year. Now we’re working hard on our changes and technique and that managed to give us the World title in that event. All very pleasing.”
After having to fight hard for many years to get the opportunity of, and finally getting a rainbow jersey, Rik and the team are not resting on their laurels. “Beijing is a realistic target but we are not going to sit back on that achievement” he told us. “On that day, we were the best but it may have been different the day after. Who knows. So we will certainly keeping working on it and doing the drills as often as we can and do our best which is all we can do.”
A New Beginning for Barney Storey
Finally, one of the key riders in the GB team is Barney Storey (on the front of the tandem above). Not only has he been to previous Paralympic Games, Barney with Anthony Kappes has also won multi World Championships as the pilot of the tandem. He also has a coaching role to play as he passes on his experience to riders and staff alike.
His opportunity though to ride in Beijing has been uncertain as Jon Norfolk became eligible to ride with Barney’s champion stoker, Anthony Kappes. “There is a lot more uncertainty for me this time round” he told British Cycling. “There are a lot of avenues I can take to secure a ride in Beijing and I’m juggling a lot of balls in the air as well as coaching, -- trying to strike the right balance between them all.”
“Post Athens, (before Anthony Kappes joined the programme) was a massive turning point and I had to choose between packing it in or moving on. As soon as I started working with Anthony, I had a new lease of life. So it was frustrating for me personally to lose Anthony to Jon but the fact of the matter is, Jon is faster in the kilo and that is how it is.”
Barney however was all smiles recently when we met at the Velodrome as he enthused over the prospect of success with his new stoker, Simon Jackson who is not only an experienced Paralympic athlete but also a very powerful one having come from Judo. And this throws up the very juicy prospect of an enthralling battle between the now very experienced duo of Jon Norfolk and Anthony Kappes and the mix of the experienced Barney Storey and the newcomer to the scene, Simon Jackson.
It will be in the Sprint event on the Friday morning, a must see event if ever there was one, where the two British tandems will may well end up against each other depending on they each fare against the tandems from the other countries.
The Aussies and Germans clash at the last World Paralympic World Cup.
“The Sprint is more tactical and it is something Jon and Anthony need to practice” Barney explained at a training camp in Newport recently. “There are a lot pairings that have been doing this for a number of years so that will be the most testing thing for them”.
“The Sprint is the only event on the track where you really could do with seeing your opponents before Beijing which is why the Manchester World Cup is so important. Whether that happens we don’t know yet until we see the line up.”
The GB Team are very fortunate to have two such powerful tandem pilots in Barney and Jon and it does give them the strength in depth they need should anything happen to either of them. Looking ahead to Beijing, Barney says that “having been to Athens, and having that experience is a massive advantage. It is very difficult to put into words what it feels like when you go the Paralympics and are based in the Village.”
“When it came to race day, it was fine but the environment in the Village is surreal where you have thousands of athletes preparing for the biggest event in their life after preparing for four years and you have them all in the one place. That is not normal! I think it will be difficult for the new people on the team but hopefully the experience of the others will be an asset for us.”
THE GREAT BRITAIN TEAM
Anthony Kappes (Piloted by Jonathan Norfolk), B/Vi
(Tandem Kilo and Tandem Sprint)
Simon Jackson - (Piloted by Barney Storey), B/Vi
(Tandem Kilo and Tandem Sprint)
Aileen McGlynn - (Piloted by Ellen Hunter), B/ViF –
(Tandem Kilo and Pursuit)
Darren Kenny, CP3 (3km Pursuit, Kilo and Team Sprint)
Rik Waddon, CP3 (Kilo and Team Sprint)
Sarah Storey LC1/2/CP4- Pursuit and 500m Time Trial
Mark Bristow, LC1 (Kilo and Team Sprint)
Russell White, LC1 (4km Pursuit, Kilo and Team Sprint)
Gary Williams, LC1 (4km Pursuit)
Jody Cundy, LC2 (Kilo and Team Sprint)
Ian Sharpe (Piloted by Paul Hunter) B/Vi (Pursuit)
Simon Richardson, LC3 (3km Pursuit, Kilo and Team Sprint)
What the VIP’s have to say about the Paralympic World Track Cup
Phil Lane, Paralympics GB Chief Executive said: "I am delighted to welcome all the competitors to this year's Paralympic World Cup to an extended programme of competitions across five days of elite level sport.
“Many of the top medal hopes for Beijing will be in action this week in Manchester and therefore the event should provide an excellent preview to the Games in September."
The Paralympic World Cup was created to provide an annual world-class multi-sport disability event and to give elite athletes more opportunity to compete with their international counterparts in between the four yearly Paralympic Games.
Hosted by the British Paralympic Association, it is sanctioned by the IPC and IWBF, and supported by UK Sport, Manchester City Council and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). The BBC has again committed to cover the event as they continue to showcase elite disability sport ahead of the Paralympics.
Martin Morton, Senior Events Consultant at UK Sport, said: “As the Paralympic World Cup, continues to grow, UK Sport is delighted to support the event through it's lottery funded World Class events programme.I am particularly looking forward to seeing some World Class performances in Manchester during this critical build up to the Paralympic Games in September, and I’m sure the British team will rise to the occasion.”
Eamonn O'Rourke, Head of Leisure, Manchester City Council. "This is Manchester's fourth year of hosting the Paralympic World Cup reaffirming the City's commitment both to disability sport and world class events. It also promises to be bigger and better than ever. In a year when Manchester hosts six world class events, the Paralympic World Cup remains an important showcase for the development of sporting opportunities for residents across the City, a feature of all our major events."
Peter Mearns, Executive Director of Marketing at the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), said: "This year's Paralympic World Cup takes on extra significance as athletes from around the world prepare for the Beijing Paralympic Games.”
“With Manchester's world-class facilities and experience of hosting events for athletes with a disability, it is no wonder that the event has attracted record numbers of athletes. Major sporting events are hugely important to our region, both in terms of promoting the Northwest on the international stage and in economic benefit. The Paralympic World Cup is a significant part of Manchester’s Year of Sport and is expected to inject around £1 million into the local economy."
The BBC coverage of the Paralympic World Cup will be shown on BBC2 on Sunday 11th May from 1600-1750 and will also be supported by the BBC’s Disability Sport website, radio and online.
Tony Garrett, BBC Disability Sport Executive, said: "In Paralympic year the PWC will provide an excellent opportunity for BBC Sport to broadcast the best action across Television, Radio and Online from four of the main Paralympic sports. It will also provide an excellent opportunity to showcase some of the top GB competitors ahead of the Beijing Games."
Tickets for the Paralympic World Cup are available on the door at each venue.
Detailed event schedules are available on the Paralympic World Cup website. A general overview is provided below (http://www.paralympicworldcup.com/):
Track Cycling (Manchester Velodrome)
Thursday 8th May: 10h00 – 17h00
Friday 9th May: 11h30 – 17h30
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