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Track Training Finishes, Let the Racing Begin
15th of March, 2006; Melbourne (Australia)
In two major training sessions, the riders from the Home nations took to the track at the Vodaphone arena near the centre of Melbourne for the final hit outs before racing starts tomorrow night. British Cycling's Larry Hickmott was there to talk to the riders and send back images of the action. Links to individual interviews at the bottom of the follow article:
Britain's Finest Ready to Rock
It's been a busy 24 hours for all the riders in the British camp with two training sessions, the first on the evening of the 14th and the second on the morning of the 15th. Both sessions went well, with all the riders openly pleased with how things have gone. The format for the sessions saw the riders from the home nations training together, like they would when riding for Great Britain with three main groups, women's endurance, Men's Sprint and Men's Endurance.
On the evening of the 13th, I saw for the first time the come back by Emma Davies-Jones who has had to try and cram her training into a much smaller period than is required to be fit for the Games after her serious hit and run accident and the signs were good. Certainly both Emma and her GB coach Dan Hunt were all smiles afterwards. Emma will be riding the Points race (in support of Nikki Harris) and the Womens Pursuit.
Talking to Emma (see the link below for the whole interview), Emma says "Coming here has all come around very very fast, and every day I seem to be getting better. The times are getting faster but I don't expect to have the sort of form that I would have hoped for last October. I'm looking at it now as a positive learning experience working with Dan and looking ahead to the future."
Also all smiles was Cornwall's Wendy Houvenaghel who was riding in the colours of England and also hitting the numbers in a dress rehearsal for the real thing, the Womens Pursuit on Sunday. With her event on Sunday, Wendy was putting in some big efforts on the track on Tuesday night, efforts she says are part of her final preparations for the biggest race of her life.
"I need to ride to the correct schedule which is why I have done a full dress rehearsal today. It has also helped to go through the correct procedure before competition as its quite important for me to experience a number of things, the most important one being to be out on the track."
In Sydney where she the Women's Pursuit, Wendy was very relaxed and asked if any nerves were starting to creep in, she replied "I'm not to nervous although I presume that will change on Sunday. It feels really good and a privilege to be representing England at the Commonwealth Games. This is something I have been aspiring to for the last eighteen months so I'm pleased to have made it here."
On village life at the Games, Wendy says "Its quite an experience and is different to anything I have experienced before. Village life seems to be really relaxing where there is no emphasis on anything else other than training and recovery and getting as much sleep as you can."
Nikki Harris was the final Women's Endurance rider training on the Wednesday night and her event will be the Points, an event she rode so well in at the Sydney World Cup and is well up for at the Commonwealth Games where she will face stiff opposition from the three Australians expected to be racing.
The Aussies will also provide the English team pursuit riders with a challenge, as will the New Zealander's no doubt, and the British World Champions Chris Newton, Steve Cummings, Paul Manning and Rob Hayles had a 2k dress rehearsal in their English kit.
Scotland Ready for Challenge
Scotland were also well represented on the Tuesday by Evan Oliphant, James McCallum, Marco Librizzi and Kate Cullen and whilst the endurance riders seemed to have good form after three months of racing in Oz, Librizzi has really thrown down a challenge for a place in the Team Sprint (Scotland), showing what a strong squad they have for that event. He was in seemingly great form in training as he battled with England's Jamie Staff who was the only sprinter from England at that session.
"It's great to be at a big event like this" Marco said in an interview with British Cycling. "And living the life - 'living the dream' as they say even if it is only for five or six weeks. It's going to be a bit of a downer going home".
The final squad of riders on the Wednesday night was the young riders from Wales (Geraint Thomas, Matt Brammeier and Ross Sander), England (Ed Clancy, Andy Tennant and Ian Stannard) and the Isle of Man (Jonny Bellis, Mark Kelly and Mark Cavendish). They were being put through their paces by Olympic Academy coach Rod Ellingworth.
The session with all those riders in action, was busy to say the least as the various coaches put their riders through their paces. At least they had the track to themselves which is very different to a World Cup or Championship where the British have to fight for track time with many other countries.
Isle of Man Field Full Team
Wearing rainbow stripes on his Isle of Man skinsuit, World Madison Champion Mark Cavendish seemed pleased with how things are going. He was straight back into training after the Sydney World Track Cup and building up for the Games. "We had a full on week straight after and now we're just starting taper."
He says the main difference between the Games and other major events is the lifestyle around it but the preparation is exactly the same. He was too young to do the last Games but is looking forward to being on the upright bike for the Points and Scratch races and then switching to the road. "For the track races, I have had the best preparation I could have had and I'm confident here".
Asked if he felt nervous, a big smile came and he said "I enjoy Larry, I haven't got time to be nervous when I'm looking forward to it."
Starting at 5pm, the session ran right through to 9pm and many of the same riders were back at the track the next morning for yet more training. This was far from a 'roll around the track' session despite the racing only a day away as all the efforts were intense top end racing type intervals ranging from 200 metres to 3 kilometres.
At the final session on the Wednesday morning were Scotland's heavyweights - Chris Hoy, Craig MacLean and Ross Edgar whilst England's Jason Queally was also training along with Victoria Pendleton.
For Victoria, this Commonwealth Games is oh so different to her first at Manchester where she says she was thrown in at the deep end and wasn't sure she deserved a place on the team. Now, she is World Champion going into Melbourne 2006. "This is my first major championships as a world champion so there is a bit of weight on my shoulders," says the 12-time national champion. "People expect results here.
"The world title was a confidence booster really though. The sprint is like one-to-one combat on the track so you have to be confident going in. Without that you've got no chance."
Talking to Jason Queally (above) about the kilometre, he says "I have prepared as well as I can for that. I struggled a bit getting in some consistent training coming up to Christmas but I knew I could do that here which I have done. In all honesty, I have probably surpassed where I would be so I am pleasantly surprised how well things have gone for the last six or seven weeks".
Meanwhile, defending champion Chris Hoy is also pleased with how things have gone in his preparation, telling us . "It's hard to gauge on the track but I feel if I am in as good a form as Athens, if not better. And I can draw on the mistakes made in the past and hopefully produce the goods on the night."
The Team Pursuiters were also back but this time for a Team Pursuit style warm-up and then a short race effort from the starting gate for the Individual Pursuit. All four, even Chris Newton who isn't doing the Individual Pursuit, gave it full gas around the track before packing up and heading back to the athletes village.
Talking about how things were going, Paul Manning (below) explained "We always gel fairly quickly and then its just the little bit of polishing to be done which is what these last few weeks have been about. The fitness is their for us to tap into and we're all confident and looking forward to the racing."
Another of the Team Pursuiters is Steve Cummings who is doing the Individual as well, an event he hasn't done for a few years. "I had thought about it but felt perhaps four events was going to be too much to concentrate on. I don't have anything to lose as I haven't prepared for it and it won't effect the Team Pursuit. So I might as well get up there and see what I can do."
His training for the individual event comprised the one and only effort he did on Wednesday so the race will be his second effort for a Pursuit, an event he admits he hasn't attempted at this level. "Its new territory for me" he says "but I'm more relaxed here and confident than I was at the last Games. People ask me if I think my form is good but nowadays I can say I know my form is good because I have down the tests and the numbers from training are closer to what I do in races which wasn't the case before".
Also back on the track were the Under 23 riders from Wales, England and the Isle of Man doing some shorter but more intense efforts as they strove to sharpen their edges for the competition. Part of that squad training under the watchful eye of Rod Ellingworth was England's Andy Tennant, World Junior champion who has had a mixed buildup to the Games.
"It feels great to be riding for the nation" he said between efforts on the track. "I'm riding the Points race now which is good and that's all that has been confirmed at the moment."
"I'm not doing the Pursuit because the form hasn't been there which is a little upsetting but hopefully I can come back for the Europeans. In the short term, I'm going to use this as a learning experience, and do the best I can." In the meantime, he has to resist the many temptations of the food variety that are on offer, all free, in the athletes village. He also has to remember to rest up saying "It's quite easy to go walking especially with the girls that are around but we have to remember to lie down and rest but once that's done we can relax a bit".
Overall at the completion of training for the second time in 24 hours, the team certainly looked sharp and although it remains to be seen whether they are in the best form ever, many certainly feel like they are and that bodes well for race day on Thursday and the days that follow. Knowing it might be the last time I get to spend time with the riders before competition starts due to the rules in force at such events, I took the time to talk to quite a few of them to get their views on how their form is for the coming four days of racing on the track. Links to these features follow:
Latest Interviews from Track's Final Training Days (14th & 15th March)
Chris Hoy
