With the 2012 London Olympics less than a year away, the upcoming British Cycling National Track Championships will be a chance to see members of the UK's Olympic squad competing against each other on home soil.
Names have yet to be confirmed, but if previous years are anything to go by there will be more than a smattering of top guns competing against the best of the rest in the UK.
The championships take place at the Manchester velodrome between 28 September and 2 October and tickets have just gone on sale for the Friday evening, Saturday evening and Sunday sessions (Wednesday and Thursday are free). With a maximum price of £8, they're selling fast and it's expected the velodrome's 3500 seat capacity won't take long to be filled.
The track championships will be the last major event at Manchester for the majority of the track stars before the Olympics. That's because for the first time in several years, there's no Track World Cup at Manchester - that will instead take place at the London velodrome and it will cost more than £8.
British Cycling's Paul Rowlands told BikeRadar, "It's the first chance you'll see these guys before the winter track season before the Revolutions (Manchester based track series) kick off. But you're probably only going to get two opportunities to see most of these guys together before the 2012 Games.
"Last year there were some surprises: it was the first time that Chris Hoy was defeated (by Jason Kenny) in the sprint for a very long time. That in itself was value for money as you were seeing a rare sporting moment. Maybe not if you were a Chris Hoy fan though!"
Entry is free of charge for Wednesday and Thursday at the national championships with Friday to Sunday ticketed. Most of the blue ribbon events are packed into the final three days of racing and highlights include:
Friday
- Women’s Points Race
- Men’s Keirin
- Women’s Sprint
- Men’s Scratch
Saturday
- Women's Team Sprint
- Men’s Sprint
- Men’s Team Pursuit
- U16 Madison
Sunday
- Women’s Team Pursuit
- Women’s Keirin
- Men’s Team Sprint
- Men’s Omnium
Click here to purchase tickets for the Friday through Sunday sessions of the British Cycling National Track Championships.
