Location: Manchester Velodrome, Manchester
Event: 6-12 October 2013
Report: Larry Hickmott
Day three of the 2013 UCI World Masters Track Cycling Championships saw the male sprinters race for glory along with a test event for women, the Team Sprint. In all, there were only three rainbow jerseys awarded on one of the event’s longest days.
Above: Geoff Cooke wins the decisive third match to take the 65-69 men's sprint world title.
Two of those rainbow jerseys went to the USA (Keith Macbeth and Victor Copeland) whilst the other was a popular win for Great Britain’s Geoff Cooke. The fourth podium of the evening was reserved for the Women’s Team Sprint. There were no medals or jerseys but awards for the top three in the event that was a test event and won by Great Britain’s Alison Chisholm and Janet Birkmyre.
After the racing was done and the velodrome began to empty of riders and officials, Great Britain still held sway on the top of the medal table with nine gold whilst the USA was making up ground with eight and Australia in third on four.
Men's Sprint 60-64
This competition resumed at the semi final stage after the earlier rounds had been run off the day before. The final between the USA and France was won by American Keith MacBeth, who beat the Frenchman in two straight rides.
Despite injuries from a crash in the time trial the day before, MacBeth was untroubled by anyone in the competition unlike many of the top sprinters who came unstuck during the other categories. In the race for the bronze Italian Angelo Onofri saw off the challenge from Ireland’s Terry Cromer in two straight rides.
Men's Sprint 65-69
This category saw a popular win for Great Britain's Geoff Cooke who had to fight tooth and nail for the gold, winning it in the decider against Mark Rodamaker of the USA. There was no hiding the joy on Cooke’s face as he edged the win in the decider and punched the air in delight.
Geoff had made the final for Gold after a two nil victory against Scotland’s Sandy Wallace in the semi final whilst Rodamaker had beaten David Rowe in his semi final in two straight rides. That set up a final for the bronze between Wallace and Rowe and whilst Rowe won two nil, both matches were very close battles.
Rowe though, who like Cooke had just returned from an eight day driving stint on the Tour of Britain, had just enough in the tank to beat his Scottish rival and put two Brits on the podium.
Men's Sprint 70+
It was an all USA podium in the Men’s 70+ with Victor Copeland seeing off the challenge of Leo Menestrina. The year before, Menestrina had been the silver medallist behind Earl Henry who had been DQ'd in an earlier round of this year’s event but was still unable to step up a place on the podium after Copeland proved too fast in both matches.
Both finals were won in two straight rides, as were the matches in the semi finals with the Bronze medal going to Michael Williams of the USA who had prevented a British rider from making the podium after beating Richard Lacy.
Women's Team Sprint (Test Event)
Eight teams (two riders per team) lined up for qualifying in this test event over 500 metres and fastest in the morning session were Great Britain's Alison Chisholm and Janet Birkmyre.
The top four from qualifying went through to the finals later that night and whilst slower than their morning ride, Chisholm and Birkmyre still edged the victory against the Dutch/New Zealand pairing of Team 1920 of Carolien van Herrikhuyzen (Netherlands) and Erin Criglington (New Zealand).
The race for the ‘Bronze’ was an equally close affair between the USA pairing of Cheryl Fuller Muller and Gea Johnson. There was only a few tenths in it after 500 metres but the win was theirs as the Australian duo of Jessica Laws & Lee Johns (Bike Barn Girls) just failed to make the podium. With such quality racing and eight teams taking it on, this should soon be a medal event in the competition.
