Report: GB Paralympic Team in Australia - Part 5

 

Posted 7 Feb 2007

Report & Pics - Team Manager Dave Mellor

Australian Open Track National Championships, Sydney

 

After day 1's hectic schedule where everyone of our track riders was racing either a Kilo or 500m time trial, mechanic Spike was able to relax a little with just three endurance riders on the track in the afternoon and evening sessions of day 2 of the Australian National Track Championships.

The day still started early with a split session planned for our Trike rider David Stone and Hand Cyclist Rachel Morris. First session was a turbo session track side before moving to the Criterium circuit adjacent to the Dunc Gray Velodrome in the afternoon all under the supervision of Dr Gary Brickley. The traffic in Sydney is a bit of a problem for these two but with such a diverse multi disciplinary group keeping the athletes and staff together has been a bit of a compromise for them but I'm sure it's better training here than the cold and snow that you are having at home.

 

Sarah Bailey

First up was multi medallist swimmer turned cyclist Sarah Bailey the current 3km World Pursuit Champion. Off last of the three athletes entered in this LC1 category Sarah had the luxury of knowing that she only had to beat a 4:07 and she gave a very controlled "walk in the park" ride to qualify for the final in 3:57 some 6 seconds away from her PB which also happens to be the current World Record. It's a fact of Paralympic Sport that to get all of the disability categories into the Games some of the events which attract the least amount of competitors are combined to make the events viable. In Beijing Sarah will therefore be in a combined category of her LC1 upper limb disability rivals, LC2 the below knee amputation athletes and the CP4 category which is the more able of the Cerebral Palsy athletes.

 

Now if you were to look at World Records for this combined group you would see that these athletes post remarkably similar times but in one of the most farcical decisions to date of the International Paralympic Committee's Cycling Commission the Gold Medal in Beijing will be decided by the athlete who beats their current World Record by the biggest percentage or a factor figure decided by the Commission. Now it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that it would be totally ridiculous for Sarah or any of the other athletes to try and improve on World best times if they are serious about Gold in Beijing. It also makes a mockery of the event to the viewing public when Sarah could cross the 3km point in first place and fastest time only to be "beaten" for Gold by someone who maybe finishes a second later or is approx 12metres behind. Sorry if this is a bit of rant but it's so frustrating for the athletes who only want to be the best that they can be but have to be held back because the World over programmes and personal funding hinges on the Gold Medal.

 

Darren Kenny

Next up was one of Britain's best known disabled athletes CP3 Darren Kenny and unfortunately his competition failed to show so it was a ride over for Darren but he put in a solid ride to record 3:53.354 for another Gold and the all important 10 points towards Beijing qualification. Beijing qualification is based on points from a very few events and the total points scored by the best athlete from each country in every disability category are added together to get a Nation total. The Nation with the most points gets the most riders in Beijing. Now get ready for another rant. The so called experts who run Disability Cycling have decided that rather than take note of current form and base Nation ranking on the World Championships later this year in Bordeaux they will reward participation in Athens and include results from 3 years ago. Now call me stupid but how can it be right that an athlete who won Gold in Athens retired at the top of their game to rejoin "normal life" of work and family still be at the top of the Paralympic Rankings with more points than one of our own World Champions and World Record holder. Because the system is flawed that's how! GB are No.1 Track Nation but will only get half as many athletes as the nation currently in 2nd place.

Garry Williams

Rant over for now and onto the evening session and the LC1 Men's final for Gary Williams against current World Champion and World Record holder Michael Gallagher. Gallagher is an absolutely awesome athlete and Gary knew he was up against it and would need a sub 5 minute personal best ride to avoid the catch in this 4km test. Gary was on target but Gallagher was on fire and the catch was soon to be inevitable as Gallagher set about reducing his World Record by a massive 4 seconds to record 4:40.378 which would have got 9th place in the Aussie Elite Championships.

 

Michael Gallagher

Next up was Sarah Bailey against New Zealand's Fiona Southorn and there has been a great deal of debate with our National Women's Coach Dan Hunt about what time Sarah should be capable of so we put her on the "legends" schedule safe in the knowledge that a catch was inevitable and made Sarah aware that she was under very strict orders not to carry on for a time. Go back to rant number one for explanation. Well Dan, you were right she can go that quick and Sarah caught her opponent in 5 laps.

Wednesday is a day off from competition for our guys but rest assured we are trackside taking all the splits of the Men's and Women's Tandem pursuits to feed back in our quest to win medals in all disability categories. Tandem Sprint Competition is Thursday.