The second day of competition in the 2012 UCI World Masters Track Cycling Championships saw six titles decided, four in the women's time trial and two from the men's pursuit.
The majority of the honours went to British riders with three rainbow jerseys while riders from Australia, Finland and Holland won the remaining three. The day also saw the early rounds of the men’s sprint for the men’s 45-49, 50-54 and 55-59 age groups.
Women's 35-39 time trial
Britain's Alison Chisholm won the women's 35-39 time trial over 500 metres with a time of 37.876. Chisholm was a couple of tenths quicker than South Africa's Annerine Wenhold while another South African, Elisa Giachino was the bronze medal winner giving her country two riders on the podium.
1. Alison Chisholm GBR 37.876 47.523
2. Annerine Wenhold RSA 38.163 47.166
3. Elisa Gianchino RSA 38.940 46.225
Women's 40-44 time trial
Britain's Julie Cooper was head and shoulders above her rivals in winning her time trial over two laps of the track (500 metres). Cooper beat the USA's Kimberly Edwards whose time of 39.434 was good enough for second a few tenths ahead of Australian Cheryl Hulskamp (39.736).
1. Julie Cooper GBR 38.012 47.353
2. Kimberly Edwards USA 39.434 45.646
3. Cheryl Hulskamp AUS 39.736 45.299
Women's 45-54 time trial
Britain's Janet Birkmyre set a new world best in winning the women's 45-54 time trial breaking the old record by a hundreth of a second. The multi world masters champion recorded a time of 37.419, almost two seconds ahead of the second rider, Annette Williams of the USA (39.088). The bronze medal went to Deborah Capewell who recorded a time of 39.566 for the 500 metres.
1 Janet Birkmyre GBR 37.419 48.104
2 Annette Williams USA 39.088 46.050
3 Deborah Capewell GBR 39.566 45.494
Women's 55 + time trial
The first medal to go to a rider from outside Britain on the night was in the women's 55 + time trial when Arja Scarsbrook of Finland rode to a time of 42.958. That was good enough to beat her two nearest challengers from Britain, Brenda Tate and Sue Smith.
1 Arja Scarsbrook FIN 42.958 41.901
2 Brenda Tate GBR 43.354 41.519
3 Sue Smith GBR 43.402 41.473
Men's pursuit 35-39 final
In the race for gold, defending champion Axel Boland came up against VC St Raphael rider Andy Stuart who proved to be no match for the Dutch rider. As the riders entered the final laps, Boland was getting ever closer to Stuart and he soon caught the British rider to clinch the gold medal, with Stuart delighted with the silver medal.
In the race for the bronze medal, kilo victor, Ben Elliott went out fast and soon opened up a gap on his rival from the USA, Jason Meidhof. When the gap went up to three seconds, it was looking curtains for the rider from the USA but no sooner had that gap been established that he fought back.
Lap by lap he made up ground on Elliott and after they’d entered the final lap on the same time, it was Meidhof who had the most left in his legs. Elliott, who despite having been over a second faster in the qualifiers, paid for his early pace on that final lap and the VC St Raphael rider finished fourth as Meidhof surged ahead to win the bronze.
Gold/silver
Axel Boland NED caught Andy Stuart GBR
Bronze
Jason Meidhof USA 3:37.885 beat Benedict Elliott GBR 3:39.063
Men's pursuit 40-44 final
The gold/silver medal final was an Ashes battle between two bronze medallists from last year in different categories, Andrew Gerber of Australia and Elliott Davis of Britain. It was the Aussie who started the fastest and going through the first kilo, he was well up on the British rider.
By halfway the gap was over two seconds but Davis fought back to reduce that to a second or so by the end but the effort fell short of what was needed to win Gold which went to the Australian Gerber with Davis taking the Silver to improve on his result from last year.
In the race for the bronze medal, prolific winner of road races in Britain, Jason White, came up against Daniel Del Barco of Argentina and White soon opened up a big gap on his rival from the other side of the world but like the bronze medal race earlier, the Argentinean came back at White and it became a real battle over the final few laps.
With fatigue on the faces of both riders, it was the last lap where the medal was won as Del Barco sprinted ahead by six tenths of a second over those final 250 metres to take the bronze medal and the final position on the podium.
Gold/silver
1 Andrew Gerber AUS 3:29.448 51.564
2 Elliot Davis GBR 3:30.612 51.279
Bronze
3. Daniel Del Barco ARG 3:33.085 50.684
4. Jason White GBR 3:33.720 50.533
The other event of the day saw the early rounds of the men’s sprint for 45-49, 50-54, 55-59 age categories with qualifying and first and second rounds. This event will conclude on day 3.
For the full results, go to http://www.cyclingmasters.com/
Tickets
Tickets are now available at the door during the championships. Ticket prices are very modest with all day prices at £8 and £5 for concessions during the week and £10 and £5 for concessions for the final two days. All ticket holders will also receive a free souvenir programme together with a daily update sheet containing full details of the programme for each day.
Please note: The evening session for the World Masters will start at 6pm (not 7pm) on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Further information: http://www.cyclingmasters.com/
