Published: 20 May 2010
The Individual Pursuit may now be the former Olympic blue riband event, but it can still provide an enthralling spectacle at any level. As well as the Final of the Men's competition, this week's meeting also saw the Ladies' Final and the first running of the Junior Pursuit. With just four seconds separating the Men's Finalists Bryan Taylor of VC Londres and Reading CC's Nick English, the final looked like it would be close.
The evening kicked off with a very fast paced 10 lap Senior Hare & Hounds. It was youth that lead the charge from the Senior As with Dan Maslin (Hillingdon Slipstreamers), Stephen Bradbury (AW Cycles) and Gavin Mitchell (Twickenham CC) breaking away from the pack in an attempt to close down the gap to the Senior B riders - where a mix of youth and experience - George Withers and William Macke of Palmer Park Velo, Sam Grant of Beyond MBC and Trevor Bradbury of Reading CC - battled hard to stay away.
When the initial chase failed with 4 laps to go, Alex Patterson and Rob King of AW Cycles, Cam Swarbrick of Team Terminator and Nick Abrahams broke away and resumed the pursuit. Swarbrick and Abraham couldn't quite bridge the gap, but Patterson and King joined the Bs with half a lap to go. They weren't able to make their way through the pack, though, and it was Rikki Pankhurst of AW Cycles who took the win from Bradbury Senior and Macke in a Senior B 1-2-3.
The Men's Individual Pursuit Final looked close on paper - and fast, with last week's cold, windy conditions replaces with a warm, still spring evening. In the end, it was a masterclass in pursuiting from Taylor. Starting in the home straight he took a couple of seconds out of English in the opening lap and steadily took a second a lap out of his opponent until 3 laps to go when the gap steadied at 7 seconds. By the end it had eased out a little further with English a tenth or so faster than his qualification ride last week and Taylor 5 seconds inside his with a phenomenal 5 minutes and 7 seconds - an average of over 48km/h (30mph) for the 4,131m event.
The Ladies event finished with almost the same gap with Emma Grant of AW Cycles - who ended up riding an extra lap after a communication failure with her support team and the race officials (they told her she was finished - she didn't hear them) - clocking a very creditable 3 minutes 47.33 (43.6km/h - 27.1mph). Jayne Paine (Willesden CC) was exactly 7 seconds back on 3:54.43, Nicci Meadows (AW Cycles) just over 3 seconds behind Paine in third with 3:57.8 and Sarra Boyd (Mildenhall CC) fourth in 4:06.18
With only two eligible riders entered, two of the Under 16s who ride alongside them in the Senior competition 'rode up' in the Junior event - which was only fractionally slower than the Men's final. Matt Gittings of AW Cycles set a storming pace to clock 3:30 - an average speed of 47.2km/h (29.3mph) for the 2,754m. Cam Swarbrick of Team Terminator was 7.5 seconds behind with 3:37.49 in 2nd place, with Frazier Carr (Palmer Park Velo) in third (3:51.9) and Steven Bradbury fourth (3:55.88).
The Senior A Keirin Final saw the welcome return of track league regular, Olympic Development Programme rider and Under 16 500m Time Trial World Record Holder John Paul, now riding for the famous City of Edinburgh Club. Paul controlled the race from the front with Sam Sturgeon of Team Terminator just losing out to Gittings on the line for third, with Swarbrick nicking fourth from King. The 8-up B final was also close with Gawain Bailey leading the charge before being rolled in the home straight with Richard Moss of GS Henley leading home Macke and Pankhurst.
It was Moss who had lead home the Senior Bs in the Unknown Distance, too, ahead of Macke with Peterson taking the Senior A win from Maslin and Steve Legg of Veloleggy 316. Moss wasn't finished with two wins, consolidating his lead by taking the B honours in a fast paced AW Cycles 20k. The calm night and warm conditions conspired to keep the field together with no real breaks forming and the field finishing together on the final lap. Taylor took the overall win and the Senior A points, ahead of Sturgeon and Abraham with Pankhurst and Rob Maccullough of VC 10 taking 2nd and 3rd in the B championship and Jason Pitt and Daniel Lansley - both of Palmer Park Velo - taking the points in the Sonim Under 14 and Under 16 20k series.