George Bateman's account of the 2008 final

As the sole representative of WWCC I thought I should report in.

I didn't have such a good day in Manchester on Saturday, but I'm pleased to say that under the circumstances I feel I did my best. The results don't really reflect the effort I put in.

As always there were 4 disciplines.

Where I finished in the 1km TT there were about 3 or 4 riders all within 0.2 seconds of each other.

There was a touch of wheels in the 5km scratch race. It happened in front of me at the north curve. A number of rider went down and I tried to miss them but rode over the back wheel of one of the bikes and I came off too. There was a number of people laying at the bottom of the track. I just had burns to my leg and torn shorts. I managed to get my hands out in front of me before I hit the ground. I slid along the concrete painted sections at the foot of the track.

I had a couple of laps out while I checked my bike over and then I got back in the race and although I did get by some back markers I finished way down the field, but again the placings were very tight. When I crossed the line there was about 4 of us together all within half a wheel.

I went and got patched up with the St Johns ambulance people. My dad says I looked like a ghost - my arms and legs had colour but my face was ever so white. We went outside to get me some air.

What with some pain and difficulty in getting back in to my rhythm, I couldn't get it together for my Keirin and Points.

I did everything by the book. An early night, a big breakfast, we got there early and made our pitch for space. I got my gears checked early on and got my number. I did lots of roller warming up and lots of drinking too. I got a good 10 minutes warm up on the track as well. It's just my luck that the only real pile up of the day happened in front of me and in my group.

The pace was fierce, and the standards were very, very high. Average speeds across heats was well in excess of 30mph!. I noticed a couple of high profile riders that won just about everything in the Southern area heats could only finish 6th and 10th - it really was that tough!!. I also notice the final winner Jacob Ragan is also flying high in the national rankings and I think he also rides out of that track too (so perhaps a home advantage as well?).

I learnt a lot and feel I did my best. I enjoyed the day. I got some applause from people when I got back on my bike and continued the race, but feel the crash did me in for the day and most importantly, the poor result doesn't reflect just how close it all was. For me a second here, a second there, a bike wheel length here and there could have lifted me a few places off the bottom.

Perhaps another day.............