Hall, Kennaugh take gold in Britain
The British Track Championships got underway on Tuesday in Manchester. Over the five days of the event, Britain’s best cyclists will compete in a variety of team and individual events in separate men’s and women’s categories. The first big wins of the Championships
were taken on day two by Corrine Hall in the women’s points race and Peter Kennaugh in the men’s scratch race.
"It is my first senior championship after a load of seconds and my first proper win in ages so I'm over the moon," said Hall after her win.
The men’s scratch race was the final event of the second day. A scratch track race has no bonuses and no intermediate sprints, it’s just a ride from the starting line to the finish line with nothing to confuse the issue. The first rider to the finish is
the winner, plain and simple. Kennaugh led the five-rider group which caught the early break, with Eric Rowsell and Ben Swift.
"I just took the opportunity to go off the front and then Eric and an Endura rider came over,” said Kennaugh. “I saw Swifty coming over too so I thought I'd wait for him and I said to Swift, we'll jump them and just me and you get a lap but he didn't come
with me. That meant I was out on my own then."
The eventual winner went solo for the rest of the race and his breakaway companions were absorbed back into the peloton. Young Simon Yates to the win in the bunch sprint for second place, narrowly beating Kennaugh’s, Sky teammate Gerraint Thomas.
“In that final sprint, I was just going as hard as I could,” said Yates. “I thought I was going to get swamped by a few riders because I thought I'd gone too early. It was a hard race and pretty fast from the gun. It didn't really stall that much, only when
Pete got a lap, but after that it was still hard.”
The points race is the opposite of the scratch race, relying heavily on the strategy collection of bonus and intermediate sprints. Danni King dominated the women’s points race early on, with leadership in four of the first eight sprints, but Hall took over
when she claimed the tenth sprint and went on to lap the field for a 20 point bonus.
"I was 20 metres off the back and at one stage I didn't think I was going to get there. I thought with a sprint coming up though, the bunch would have to play it a bit tactical and they did which played into my hands. I got on and knew Dani was the only
rider who could beat me and I followed her as much as I could."
The final two sprints, including the finish line, were won by Anna Blythe who took the bronze medal. King took the silver medal though she crossed the finish line in third, behind teammate Hannah Rich and ahead of gold-medal-winner Hall, who crossed the
line in fourth.
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