World Cup Races in Great Britain After a long period without competing we finally had a race again, my first one for this season.. This time my pilot and I went to England for 2 World Cup Races on the track in Manchester and Newport. Thursday May 21st: 1 km time trial, Manchester On the 21st of May we took part in the 1 km time trial on the indoor 250 m track in Manchester. Tandem teams from Great Britain, Canada, Holland, Ireland and France came over to compete in this event of World Cup status. We rode the time trial in 1:06.676 - a new personal record - finishing 3rd and winning bronze on the 1 km. Great Britain won gold l with a time of 1:04.29 Bronze for Jeroen and Richard Friday May 22nd: 4 km pursuit, Manchester On Friday we competed in the sprint and 4 km pursuit. In the qualification for the sprint we ended 3rd in the 200 meter flying with a time of 11.304 seconds but we decided not to continue with the sprint competition but to focus on the 4 km. Warming up for the sprint qualification In the afternoon we had to race against the Canadians over 4 km, 16 laps. Our start was faster but they rode their laps 0.2 seconds faster and eventually won the race. This race was really great for our confidence because the differences were so small and first we were ahead. This meant Silver for us on the 4 km because we had the second best time after the Canadians: 4:36.571 which meant an average of more then 52 km/h. The Canadians won gold in 4:34.805. Ireland ended up 3rd. Sunday May 24th: 1 km time trial + 4 km pursuit, Newport On Saturday we travelled from Manchester to Newport to ride another race on the 250 indoor track of Newport the next day. The length of the track is the same as in Manchester but this track is not as fast. More wind and different angles of the track made it harder to set the same or better times than in Manchester. On Sunday we rode the 1 km and 4 km. The organisation was not good and in the end we had to ride both races within one hour. The 1 km went well but again the British were too fast for us. We ended up second with a time of 1:07.262 which is good for us on this track. In the 4 km we had to race against the Canadians again. On the 1 km we were able to beat them - on the 4 km we had to fight very hard but again they won. We ended up second again and are really satisfied with the results of all the races. Our next competition will be on the road, a road race and time trial in Gippingen, Switzerland. Richard Bonhof www.dutch-tandem.nl
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