Russian Masters Track Championships - NE

Moscow, Russia, December 13-14, 2002

Russian Masters track championships - a pilot version?

By Sergey Kurdukov, Russian Eurosport correspondent

Incredible but true. Although masters road racing is far more alive than dead in Russia, with a lot of one day and stage races, official and semi-official championships, the same could hardly be said about track events. For all the success of sporadic trips abroad (like Juri Demanov's voyage Down Under this autumn when he brought home a whole case of medals from the Masters' Games), at home there had hardly been any organized starts for riders over 30 until last weekend.

So the open contest held at Krylatskoye Olympic velodrome can really be considered a ground breaking occasion. Practically all the medals were shared between the riders of two Moscow clubs, Master-Profi and the Leader (the names speak for themselves, don't they?).

The clear favourite Demanov looked steady but not at the top of his abilities after an off-season period. The 'Russian Irish' Liam Collins (the rider has been living, riding and working in Moscow for so long that he is thought to be 'just one of us') had taken quite some time to get his special sprinting qualities to the necessary level, that it had to pay off - and it did. Another excellent performance was produced by former winner of all the national elite races, Alexander Torkachenko. See them all next time somewhere in Manchester?

Results

1000m Time Trial 27-39

1 Juri Demanov (Moscow)            1.15.99
2 Liam Collins (Ireland)           1.16.52
3 Alexander Torkachenko (Moscow)   1.17.8
 
1000m Time Trial 40-49 

1 Alexander Adrianov (Moscow)      1.17.61
2 Igor Pchenkine (Moscow)          1.22.79
3 Valeri Novikov (Vologda)         1.27.83
 
500m Time Trial 50 plus

1 Jury Iljin (Ryazan)                45.49
2 Georgi Karasjov (Moscow)           48.37
 
Pursuit 27-39 3000m - 10 Laps

1 Alexander Torkachenko (Moscow)   4.02.40
2 Juri Demanov (Moscow)            4.02.42
3 Liam Collins (Ireland)           4.08.38
 
Pursuit 40-49 3000m - 10 Laps 

1 Alexander Adrianov (Moscow)      3.51.64
2 Igor Pchenkine (Moscow)          4.27.20
3 Valeri Novikov (Vologda)         4.29.12
 
Scratch 27-39

1 Alexander Torkachenko (Moscow)  
2 Liam Collins (Ireland)
3 Juri Demanov (Moscow)                 
 
Scratch 40-49   

1 Alexander Adrianov (Moscow)     
2 Igor Pchenkine (Moscow)     
3 Valeri Novikov (Vologda)    

Scratch 50+ 

1 Georgi Karasjov (Moscow)