Janet Birkmyre takes five titles and one Silver medal at the World Masters Track Championships.

Jan had a punishing schedule, as she had six races over six consecutive days. Three of the races actually required racing both the qualifying rounds and finals in a single day – which meant sometimes finishing as late as 11pm. However, Jan has an impressive record in Masters racing and has in fact, over the last 10 years, always made it on to the podium in any Masters event she has competed in. So, it would be fair to say that expectations were high. Even so, the five Gold medals (won in the Scratch, Points, 500m TT, Team Sprint and Team Pursuit), plus a Silver medal in the Individual Pursuit represents a serious haul. 

Here is Jan’s account of the event:

“I honestly did not expect to do so well this year. The number of women taking part was up again and the quality of the racing was the highest I have ever had the privilege of being part of. To win five titles is amazing and justifies the hard work I have put in on the bike and the support my amazing husband has given me all year.” 

The strength of the competition is witnessed by the fact that Janet broke the World Record in qualifying for the Gold medal ride off in the Individual Pursuit, only for her new record to be broken again later in the competition. Jan then rode just 0.008 of a second off the World Record for the 500m Time Trial, to take the tile in that discipline. Jan’s wins in the bunch events were just as emphatic, with a stunning sprint to take the Scratch race. Then in the Points race, Jan notched up 15 points to take the title with a 7 point margin.

There is no time to enjoy the success though, as Janet is already back in training, with her next event being the Elite National Track Championships in January, where she will rub shoulders with the newly crowned Olympic Champions from Rio.

Thank you to all our sponsors, who are so very generous: