Keirin at Manchester World Cup?

From the race reports I read on ProCycling, it was mostly a wash out, eh? But that was to be expected....the Japanese Keirin riders rarely, if ever, race outside of Japan as there is quite a bit of money to be made here (I live in Japan...). Which is fine, BUT....the Keirin scene here has pretty much destroyed amateur/grassroots track racing. Most of the tracks in Japan are unaccesible for amateurs to compete and practice on, with many tracks open to the public only a few times a year! Racing year round for the Keirin Pros means they will never be on par with other country's top riders. What a shame....well, that's my rant for the day. Any other opinions?

Watched the racing on tele and it was very fast but the Japanese riders didnt seem to have the top end needed to compete with the Europeans and Australians.
Maybe this is due to the event being a longer type of sprint there?
Also there is a massive difference between riding on wood and tarmac which i think is oftern over looked
Lee

Can anybody point me to a link that would list who participated in and won the keirin. I'm really curious about this whole issue of keirin racing in Japan and the differences between the Japan scene and western racing. Do the Japanese ever invite western track stars to participate in invitational races. It seems like it would be in everyone's interest for the two world's to come together.

It's not exactly the same, but ultimate fighting (Pride Fighting) is hugely popular in Japan and they make a big deal about inviting western fighters. The money in these fights is much better than the fighters get here in the states. Pride Fighting now has a following here in the states. It seems like there is an opportunity here to expand the sport of track racing by somehow bringing the two cultures together.

What are your thoughts?

kelvinmack said:

Just wondering if anyone on the boards here caught the $90,000 purse Keirin race that was to be held at the Manchester World Cup Jan. 7-9. ProCycling magazine said that some of the best Keirin racers from Japan were going to be there. I saw some of the Keirin races here in LA at the Dec. World cup event. Entertaining and exciting stuff to watch.

I was at Manchester for the big money "Japanese" keirin racing. The racing was exciting, amazingly fast and there were a few crashes thrown in as well. I was, however, tremendously disappointed with the standard of riding of the Japanese riders. They lacked the pace of the contintal and Australian riders and seemed a bit lacking whwn it came to tactics.
One Japanese rider made it through to the minor final, which he didn't win and the others got knocked out in the heats. I used to think keirin racing was a bit silly, but having seen it at the highest level, I now think it's BRILLIANT.

Joanne

kelvinmack said:

Can anybody point me to a link that would list who participated in and won the keirin. I'm really curious about this whole issue of keirin racing in Japan and the differences between the Japan scene and western racing. Do the Japanese ever invite western track stars to participate in invitational races. It seems like it would be in everyone's interest for the two world's to come together.

It's not exactly the same, but ultimate fighting (Pride Fighting) is hugely popular in Japan and they make a big deal about inviting western fighters. The money in these fights is much better than the fighters get here in the states. Pride Fighting now has a following here in the states. It seems like there is an opportunity here to expand the sport of track racing by somehow bringing the two cultures together.

What are your thoughts?

The details of the Manchester keirin racing can be found at
britishcycling.org.ukManchesterW Cup.htmlOpen ↗
Sometimes western riders do go accross to Japan to race in the keirin. Britain's Jason Quelly went a couple of years ago with moderate success and our olympic/world champion, Chris Hoy is going in a couple of month's time. Even though Chris is one of the best sprinters in the world, he will still have to spend a couple of weeks at keirin school before he is allowed to take part in their races.

joanne

Thanks Keirin Girl. That link is just what I was looking for. Lots of other great stuff at that link as well.

Cheers

kelvinmack said:

Can anybody point me to a link that would list who participated in and won the keirin. I'm really curious about this whole issue of keirin racing in Japan and the differences between the Japan scene and western racing. Do the Japanese ever invite western track stars to participate in invitational races. It seems like it would be in everyone's interest for the two world's to come together.

It's not exactly the same, but ultimate fighting (Pride Fighting) is hugely popular in Japan and they make a big deal about inviting western fighters. The money in these fights is much better than the fighters get here in the states. Pride Fighting now has a following here in the states. It seems like there is an opportunity here to expand the sport of track racing by somehow bringing the two cultures together.

What are your thoughts?

I coach kids mountain bike riding and cross country. I have to do a paper on velodrome and keirin,you seem to know somewhat about the subject can you help me with some info maybe a link to a good source.

Shogan said:

I coach kids mountain bike riding and cross country. I have to do a paper on velodrome and keirin,you seem to know somewhat about the subject can you help me with some info maybe a link to a good source.

Hey Shogan,

Sorry, but I am actually pretty new to the whole track scene. Only been doing it a couple months. I will say that there are some great discussions here on cyclingforums.com on Keirin racing, even some links to Japanese sites with video clips of races. Also check out the track forum on bikeforums.net. There's some good stuff to be found there. Here's a good one http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=56556 .

Good luck with the paper.

kelvinmack

Shogan said:

I coach kids mountain bike riding and cross country. I have to do a paper on velodrome and keirin,you seem to know somewhat about the subject can you help me with some info maybe a link to a good source.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/?id=hakodatekeirin
This might help

Shogan said:

I coach kids mountain bike riding and cross country. I have to do a paper on velodrome and keirin,you seem to know somewhat about the subject can you help me with some info maybe a link to a good source.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/?id=hakodatekeirin

This might help