Saturday 6 August 2016

108. Track Cycling - Team Pursuit

Event: Track Cycling - Team Pursuit 
Date: 17th July 2016 
Location: Preston Park Velodrome 
Cost: £70.00 each for the session (five events)  
Rules: Two teams of three cyclists start on opposite sides of the track. The winner is the team that finishes the 3K race in the quickest time, or if they catch the other team. Cyclists on the same team take it in turns leading, like a relay. After they have done their stint at the front, they move to the back. 

The Event:



Times:
Olympic Gold Medal London 2012: 3:14.051 - Danielle King, Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell, Great Britain. 
Sarah, Laura & Greg: 5:21.79 win
Ellie, Carl & Clare: Caught at the above time - 3.5 laps. 

Comments:
Sarah: A single lap of an Olympic velodrome is 250m, but Preston Park velodrome is much longer at 579.03m a lap. This means the track is far less steep and has much longer straights. For all our track cycling events we halved the number of Olympic laps to take our extra distance in to account. Before we reached the starting line, my team shared some tactics and had a practice on how to maneuver from the front to back of the line to make sure we didn't crash in to each other during the race. We set off and found our pace and decided we'd go for the overtake for the win rather than going to full race distance. In theory the plan sounded fine, but when we made the break, our tight peloton opened out and we had to close back together so not to leave anyone behind. On our next try we were expertly blocked by Clare and Carl on the other team, but eventually made our way through their weaving! 
Ellie: This event was much more style with a team around you and cooperation one of the main things to keep in mind. I felt a little like I was ugly duckling in company of swans but it was nice to just be on the water with them!

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