This year's event sees the tenth year of the Championships and with all ten having being in Manchester. Over 330 riders have pre-entered with more coming in. To date 21 nations represented in the field which can be viewed on the Riders List page. A very large British contingient will be trying to wrestle the total count of medals from the Americans who have won the overall medal table every year except for 2000 when Great Britain topped the table.
The usual countries to compete for third (Australia, Germany, South Africa and Canada) will also have competition from 3 strong European countries. Italy are sending a team of 12 riders with France 10 riders and Ireland 19 riders (all of whom have only had small representation in the past)
All categories are well supported with the new category of over 70-year men with 13 riders competing down to a magnificent entry in the 30 year age group then competition will be fierce.

All forms for this years Championships are available from this site as PDF's. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print out the forms. A version of Acrobat will probably be on your computer already, if not you can get a free version from the Adobe website, using the logo at the bottom of the table left.

Trinidadian Ronald Peters visited Manchester on business in 1995 for a conference and took time out to visit the newly completed Manchester Velodrome. After that trip his company, Tracmac, have on the eve of his retirement sponsored him to ride the World Masters for the first time this year.
Ronald who represented his country from 1966 to 1971 and was also a silver medallist in the points race at the World Masters Games in 1989 stopped competing after a vehicle accident whilst out training in 1993. He qualified as a UCI National Commissaire shortly after this but returned to competition in 1999 after being inspired by the story of Lance Armstrong.
He did not compete in the National Championships this year as he was attending his daughters graduation, she is an accomplished athlete and completing the sporting family, his son is a goalkeeper with San Juan Jabloteh whilst his wife was a former netballer who captained Trinidad and Tobago to successes in 1979.
Ronald will ride the all the events in the 60 to 64 year category for American team Madonna Wheelers.

Sixty year old Company Director and artist, Peter Jenn, is the first rider entering this year to celebrate riding all Masters Championships so far. Peter started cycling in 1953 with his father and after ceasing racing as a first category roadman in 1963 he returned to cycling after 26 years and rejoined his old club De Launne CC in 1989. A father of two with 4 grandchildren who likes early jazz and admits to liking the odd cognac founded the Kensington Press during his years off the bike and designed and published a series of Edwardian Sporting prints which were exhibited in New York the year he returned to cycling. Peter is now in the first year of the 60 to 64 year category and has entered the Pursuit and Points race.
Mark Zaschke (Mid Anglia Wheelers) is the second rider and he has entered the 45 to 49 years Sprint, Individual Time trial and Points races. Mark is the youngest at 47 years of age of the 12 possible riders to ride all 10 Championships and is currently self-employed with the City Cycle Centre and rides frames that he has built himself. A fan of Sean Kelly and Freddy Maertens, Mark started cycling in 1970 and had a year out when he had a back injury in 1980 that necessitated a bone graft to fuse two vertebrae. A regular medal winner at the Masters, Mark has only once gained that gold medal and rainbow jersey as a member of the Team Sprint team including Gary Edwards and Dave LeGrys who won the open category Team Sprint. Whilst serious on the bike, like so many of the Masters, Mark likes to indulge himself and his favourite drink is Atom Splitter Real Ale – sounds powerful – just like Mark’s sprint!
The third rider who celebrates his tenth Championships is probably one of the most successful. Geoff Cooke is also in the first year of the 60-64 year category and has entered the time trial, sprint and points and will no doubt also ride in the Team Sprint event on the last day of the Championships. Geoff has an impressive record of 10 Championship golds. His first gold was in the second year when he won the 50-54 years sprint and time trial. He won the Sprint every year since then until last year when in the last year of the 55 to 59 year age group he could only manage the silver. (He also gained bronze in last years time trial after winning the event in '96, '99 and 2000) Geoff is one of those riders who will be bouncing back and will be determined to win that Championship jersey again.
Redmon rider, Doug Conroy from Carshalton celebrates 10 years Masters by riding all four events in the 55 to 59 category. In his first year in the 50 to 54 year age category, 50-year-old Team Quest rider, Paul Shuttleworth from St Albans rides the pursuit and points races.
Of the remaining 7 riders only two are not British and both are expected to enter.

Once again Manchester City Council are supporting the World Masters. The sporting city that held the 2002 Commonwealth Games is fast becoming the city where all major sports events want to hold their major events. The Masters has been in the city since the first event ten years ago and the city are determined to keep it in the area. The area's media is also fully behind the event with the Manchester Evening News also supporting the event for the second year.

Three masseurs will attend the Championships again this year who will provide a service to those competitors who do not have their own masseur. It is the second year that these masseurs will be at the Velodrome and they will be situated in the riders' enclosure.
Stephen Light from Liverpool is a regular rider at the Championships and will be joined by locals Sarah Jefferson and her partner David Booth.

Extra Championships may be held for age categories over 50 years in the Women's races where there are 6 or more riders in a 5 or 10 year age group. With at least 4 riders known to be entering races in the over 60 years then some new category races look a strong possibility.
Organisers are also hoping that more Women will also enter the younger age group points races - these are held at the first day of the Championships.

New age categories for Women Competitors

German watch company, Junghans are to once again sponsor the Championships and are to provide special awards for the best male and female riders of the Championships as well as prizes in the Muratti Cup which completes the weeks racing on Saturday evening (18th). Junghans watches can be found on
http://www.junghans.de

Greggs Cycles will once again be represented in two areas at this years Championships.
As well as a Greggs sponsored American team with owner Stan Gregg planning to return, they will also be continuing their sponsorship of the Championships.
Greggs have been very supportive of the Championships since their inception 10 years ago and Stan is one of 12 riders who have competed in all 9 previous Championships.
A profile of Stan and some of the other 11 riders who will be celebrating their tenth Championships will follow soon.

With 12 weeks to go before the start of the tenth World Masters the first entries are being received into the Masters Office and with the first 18 entries coming from no less than 9 countries the entry looks as if it could be another record year for the Championships.

Australian Women's rider Liz Randall will be hoping to be the first Champion in the newer over 60 years age group if enough riders enter. Liz has previously visited the Championships and this year will compete in all events if there are the riders in her category. Otherwise she will still compete in the Time Trial and Pursuit in the harder 50 years age group! (She won the silver in last years 50 plus Pursuit)

Also amongst these early entries are 4 regular competitors from Denmark including Peter Tranberg who after winning two gold's in the Men's 60-64 years Sprint in 1999 and 2000 now competes in the new age category 65 to 69 years. Whilst Erik Hansen goes in the 60 - 64 years and Jens Jensen (bronze sprint in 2002) and Eric Laursen in the 55 - 59 years events.
They will be aiming at bettering their medal toll and gaining a better overall medal placing for Denmark than their best so far of 6th overall.

SC DHFK Leipzig rider Mike Zwingenberger is the first German entry to this years World Masters Track Championships. Mike who visited the Championships last year as a spectator to ascertain the competition has entered the 40 to 44 years Points race, which will be held on the Wednesday (15th September) of the Championships.