The Red Bull Mini Drome made its final stop for the year at Manchester's Victoria Baths this weekend at an event hosted by biking legend Chris Akrigg and Chris Fuber coach of the British Paralympics cycling team. The day was action packed and saw over 100 fixed gear riders experience the intensity of the 25 metre track, reaching speeds of up to 25 mph.
Built by Velotrack who created the Velodrome for the Georgia Olympics the track maintains race worthy dimensions in the smallest possible size to enable a single pursuit. It challenges both body and mind as riders are required to navigate themselves around a unique and technically challenging course and Saturday's race was no exception.
Following some intense qualifiers, the 32 fastest riders went head to head in the final heats in front of hundreds of spectators. There was fierce competition especially in the final which saw Ricky Crompton from Lancashire battle against Toms Alsbergs from Latvia who narrowly claimed the title with an epic performance and time of 34.769. Both riders seemed on a high after the event as Toms said " It's really amazing what I can feel after every event and victory" and a pumped Ricky declaring he was ecstatic "results don't really bother me, the excitement factor of the actual race is what I get the kick out of. Special mention should also go to Ricky's outfit an impressive yellow leopard print two piece from his sponsors Bawbags.
The excitement didn't end there though and the battle for third place was also a close call with Janis Savickis and Richard Cunynghame both putting in an impressive performance on the track though Janis had a slight edge and scooped the coveted third place spot.
The event ended on a high with most riders buzzing from the event, and even Janis seemed happy with third after his earlier frustrations in the day leaving things on a high until Red Bull Mini Drome returns in 2012.
Comments
Add a comment