Six Day London: Don’t miss a week’s worth of wonderful track cycle racing

Imagine if there were a series of globe-trotting events blending all the high-speed excitement of those Olympics-featuring track cycle races with cool, irresistible beats courtesy of world-class DJs and an indoor son et lumière show to rival those that bless the Pyramids… well, imagine no more because there verily is – and it’s on its way to London for its UK leg come the last week of October (23^rd-28^th October).

Not just that, though; it’s set to be action-packed and, for anyone who’s at all an enthusiast of track cycling, an unmissable event, should it coincide with a visit to the city spent at one of the 5 star hotels London.

Yes, expect the velocity to well and truly turned up at the Queen Elizabeth (Olympic) Park’s Lee Valley VeloPark, as the DJs keep the party going between each race; with international-level racers competing in two men’s teams across the full six days, a women’s event taking place across two days and the very best under-21 riders in the world peddling like fury too. To say then this is a fantastic event for which to snap up a late ticket or two, should you be staying at one of the nearby properties in the Montcalm hotel London family, is putting it mildly…!

Races not to be missed

Yes, should you still be able to snaffle any tickets; don’t delay – not least because kids’ tickets are very reasonable; thus, each day of the event would surely be a perfect activity for a half-term short-break, while staying at discount hotels London. Indeed, just check out these featured races:

• Madison – the essential Six Day race, this race was invented at one of the original ‘Six Days’ events and took its name from that one’s venue (NYC’s glamorous Madison Square Gardens); it sees racers ride in pairs and is very tactical but often leads to an explosive finish too, not least because Six Day fests feature different iterations, a 45-minute chase, a 500m Time Trial and all-concluding finale

• Elimination – this race sees the backmarker eliminated after every other lap, setting up an exciting sprint finish between the eventual last two left standing (or, rather, cycling)

• Derny – an age-old favourite; the derny race sees a rider from each competing team line up behind a motorised pacemaker (on, yes, a dinky motorised cycle), with the trick being to try to ride in the nifty derny’s slipstream for fast, successful racing come the finish

• Women’s Omnium – a compendium event that comprises a 7.5km Scratch Race, a 7.5km Tempo Race, an Elimination Race and, finally, a 20km Points Race; the Scratch race is all about being first-past-the-line, the Tempo race about intermediate sprints every lap (after the first five), the Elimination about eliminating backmarkers (see above) and the final, marathon of a points race about accumulating further points by excitedly surging and sprinting every 10 laps

• 200m time trial – a real crowd-pleaser this one, being that it’s designed specifically for true sprinters to try their hand at going up against the clock, winding up their speed until the final lap when they go hell for leather and try to set the fastest possible time

• Keirin – finally, kicking-off with the derny (again), the racers in this event jostle for position behind the motorised pace-maker for five-and-a-half laps… before it’s every man (or woman) for themselves in the final two-and-a-half laps.