MANCHESTER REGIONAL TRACK LEAGUE

FRIDAY 18 MARCH 2011 - MANCHESTER VELODROME

I am very pleased to report that Bolton Clarion's presence on the boards seems set to continue with the regular appearance now of Dave Hardman riding alongside yours truly.

Dave is making good progress getting more and more into the racing and the pace of the race. On the fringes is Ian Tipping, keen to make a comeback at some future point, at the moment training for the mammoth ride 'Barcelona to Bolton'.

Along side Bolton clarion are Bury clarion and Crewe clarion, Crewe being represented by the lone Paul Morpeth, like me keeping the clarion flag flying as others have been and gone.

Our meagre efforts have of course been eclipsed by Fred Smith's European Championship win but I feel it is important to keep the home flag flying in the lower leagues. Who knows, we may have another future champ in our ranks, if not now perhaps in the future.

Track riding is such fun and full of excitement, no one should be put off by talk of crashes, they do occur but are few and far between and though dramatic hardly ever result in anything more than scrapes and bruises. Skin suits are the biggest losers, crash in a skin suit and you are virtually bound to be buying another, shorts and separate tops are more readily at hand in a cyclists wardrobe.

I do have to mention the fact that former member Dave Hession is now also a regular, like one or two more yo yoing between groups one and two, a spate of wins sees him going up but then he gets no points and down to our level he comes again.

The biggest change I have seen over the years has to be the advance in quality of women track riders, no longer are they at the back but in all but the top group they frequently dominate the races. Mother and daughter dominated group one last night, mother being a world masters champion, daughter being a former junior squad member before dropping out for a while.

Another bonus of being a regular is watching young talent come through, graduating from skinny schoolboys to national track and professional road champions. It's nice to think that they have had to get past you whilst progressing. Here's to more of our members getting the bug for track racing. Report by Tony Bowles