Small fields at the final of the summer championship. A day of action in September is intended to promote rail sports, and an international racing day is planned for the VCD anniversary in 2024.
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On five Wednesday evenings, the summer track championship was run on the Diatest Velodrome of VC Darmstadt, for which Thomas Eser (white jersey) starts. Photo: Thomas Zoeller
DARMSTADT – The last laps have been turned, the winners of the summer railway championship have been determined. At the finale there was quite a free ride on the Diatest Velodrome. The organizers would have liked a little more participation, but the total number of participants was also slightly lower than in the previous year. “The Corona officially no longer exists,” says Rüdiger May from VC Darmstadt, somewhat exaggerated, “there are many parallel dates again. We had to lose some feathers, especially in the youth classes”.
In fact, cyclists are meeting more and more often for group rides. But they don’t need an organized championship or a club for that. The track offers the youngsters in particular the best opportunity to ride and train safely. However, there is far less going on at pure track and road racing dates than with mountain bikers, where things are still buzzing at VC Darmstadt. “You can ride a mountain bike everywhere, track bike only here,” says May, explaining the difference.
However, he and his comrades-in-arms are not giving up in their efforts to continue enlivening cycling on the concrete track. After the summer holidays there will be a track day of action, followed by the Hessen Championships in the summer and perhaps even an international track racing day in 2024. Then the VCD will be 125 years old.
The results of the summer track championship were primarily shaped by starters from Frankfurt clubs. From clubs in southern Hesse, Daniel Junghans (second place U11) and Eric Wolf (third place U13) from RSC Reinheim, Laura Feldmann and Diana Steffenhagen (both RSV Seeheim) as the best female drivers and Thomas Eser from VC Darmstadt as eighth place overall and several times achieved top placings Top three riders in the combined U19, Elite and Masters races.
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