Page maintained by
Leigh Morton
Last updated: 24/4/2012
Expires: 23/9/2021
Text Only A-Z
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Kian Emadi - Track Cycling
Introduction
| My name is Kian Emadi. I am a track cyclist specialising in sprinting. I am a five-time national champion in a variety of sprint disciplines (match sprint, keirin and kilometre time trial). I have represented GB as an Under-16 and in the Junior European and World Championships. At the Junior World Championships in 2010, I achieved a 4th and 6th place, and our team sprint ride set a British Junior record. |
|
I am now in my first year as a senior rider, and I am a member of the British Cycling Olympic Academy in Manchester and of the GB Under-23 team. In 2011-12, I am hoping to be selected for the World Cup competition series, and, if all goes well, to represent GB in the 2012 Olympics.
April's Blog
Posted: 24 April 2012
Hello again. It’s been a while since I last wrote and a few things have happened. The sprint academy team went out to the Island of Majorca in March. It was a really nice opportunity to do some warm weather training with some varying terrain. It was a hard 8 days, with the longest ride being just under five hours in the saddle. We all had a great time though, with the weather being the best we had experienced; I managed to come back with a nice tan.
While we were out in Majorca, the senior riders were in Melbourne riding at the World Track Championships. It was a really good championship for GB as they came away with 6 gold medals and a lot of promising signs for the Olympics.
Once we arrived back in Manchester, the gradual return to ‘normal’ training began. It was nice to back into the swing of things, although I did suffer a small setback. In Majorca, on a few of the rides my ankle was a bit sore, and once back in Manchester I had to modify my training a bit to allow the tendons to settle down. It’s pretty much back to normal now so hopefully it’s sorted.
Apart from that, my training is going well, I seem to have a little bit of form at the moment, so that’s always nice. My Open University online course is also finishing up, so hopefully I’ll get some good results on the final exams.
The next event coming up is a training and racing camp in Germany, so I’ll write again after that.
March's Blog
Posted: 26 March 2012
March has been a really busy month. First, I was nominated for the Stoke Sports Personality of the Year Award. This is a big honour and I was really happy to hear that I was up for the award. Unfortunately I was training on the Tuesday night (13th) so I wasn’t able to attend the awards, but I found out the next day that I finished in second place. Although I was disappointed not to win, Emma Jackson is a worthy winner and I was very happy for her. (See link below for an article about the awards.) Second, last Monday (19th) I was able to ride in a team sprint selection trial, just before the senior sprint team flew out to the World Championships in Melbourne. It was kind of a reward for some good training performances, and I was very happy to ride with the team, it was good fun!
Then, this Monday (26th) I am flying out to Majorca with the rest of the Academy for ten days of warm weather training before our next race. This is a really nice block of training, as the weather is usually great, and it makes a nice change from the Manchester roads. Straight after this block, we are travelling down to London to race in the Good Friday track meeting, which is a prestigious international event held at the Herne Hill velodrome in Dulwich. This event has been held annually since 1903 and is a really cool race. The crowds are massive and are made up of local riders and couriers, which makes for an interesting group of people. Hopefully the weather will be ok, as it is an outdoor velodrome, and if it rains it could cancel the event!
February's Blog
Posted: 14 February 2012
Since I last wrote, I have had a two week break. After coming back from Germany, I was given the opportunity to ride a Revolution Sprint event. This is a large event held in Manchester and I have ridden a few of these before, they always are fun to ride with large (4000+) crowds.
The riders were made up of the GB Academy and Podium squads, and three French riders. The standard of racing was high as the field consisted of many Olympic and World Championship medallists.
The racing went pretty well. I equalled my PB for the flying 200m sprint qualifier; I was pretty pleased with this as I didn’t feel in the best shape. The rest of the evening consisted of different races, many of which we don’t get the chance to ride very often, so it was good fun overall.
After Revolution, I was given a week off training. This gave me a chance to recover and unwind. I was able to go home and see my family, which is always nice.
Now I'm back into full training and feeling a bit sore after getting used to a few easy days!
In other news, the London leg of the Track World Cup series is being held the weekend of the 17/81/19 February. This is an important race as it is one of the only events to be held on the Olympic Velodrome before the actual Olympic Games. It is also the last big competition before the World Championships in Australia, so it will be interesting to see how the racing pans out.
January's Blog
Posted: 25 January 2012
Last time I blogged, it was before Christmas and I wrote about the upcoming race in Germany. I have just come back from the Bremen Six Day and it was really good fun. We flew out from Manchester on a Thursday morning, arrived in Bremen and then quickly drove to the track to build up our bikes and sit down for the rider’s briefing before the racing in the evening.
The racing was over six days back to back, starting at 10 pm and finishing anywhere between 1 and 3 in the morning. It was a real party atmosphere with one large hall housing the track itself, and then five other halls contained numerous bars, clubs and bands. It was amazing and on Saturday night, which was the busiest, there were an estimated 20,000 spectators attending. Manchester Velodrome seats about 3,000 – so this was huge in comparison!
The track centre itself was cool as well. Usually the riders are kept away from the spectators to allow them to prepare and warm up without stress, but in Bremen we had to walk through the dance floor of a bar to get to the ‘riders pit’ and the spectators were allowed to come and go as they pleased. This was really good, as it meant you could talk to the people who had come to see you race, and some of the spectators had had a few too many to drink so this made for interesting conversation.
I really enjoyed the Six Day experience, and if I had the chance to go back, I definitely would. I finished the series absolutely shattered from racing the night shifts but it was so much fun. The prizes were pretty cool as well. One night, I won an iPod for winning a race, and on the final night I won a magnum of champagne for finishing second overall for the six days of racing.
Below are two links to British Cycling reports on days three and six of racing:
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/gbcyclingteam/article/gbr20120114-Report--Bremen-Six---Day-3-0
December's Blog...
Posted: 13 December 2011
Since the last blog entry, not much has changed! Training is still going well; the work we have to do is pretty similar to before. The only difference is that road rides are now much harder because of the cold weather.
In the last few weeks, the temperature has dropped a lot, and it's not very nice riding outside for hours when it’s hailing and raining, and when all you have for warmth is a few layers of lycra...
Training carries on as usual over Christmas, I get to go home for four days over Christmas and three days over New Year which is nice, but it’s not as good as some of my friends who get about a month off of uni! It’s the price you pay, though, in an Olympic year.
After Christmas, my next race is the Bremen Six Day. This is a race in Germany and is a very popular format of racing on the continent. As the name suggests, it is six consecutive days of racing. The twist is that the event is primarily for the entertainment of the crowds, rather than serious competition, so the racing will start at about 10pm each night, and finish at approximately 3am. This gives it more of a party atmosphere, and Euro pop music and plenty of German beer feature heavily in the night’s events, although not for the riders!
I’m really looking forward to this race as I’ve never done one before, and it should give me the opportunity to experience a lot of high-quality racing, while in a less pressured atmosphere than usual. That GCSE German will come in handy!
November's Blog...
Posted: 23 November 2011
During the last month, I was selected to ride in the Revolution track meet. This event was one of a four-part series. The races are in front of large crowds, and while the quality of the field is high, the racing takes on a more entertaining feel, with races that wouldn’t normally feature in a World Championship. This is to make the night more exciting for the 5000 strong audience.
I rode in the first revolution of the series which was on the 29th of October. The main attraction of the night was the sprinting. It was a high calibre field with Craig Maclean, Michael D’Almeida and David Daniell riding, who between them have multiple World and Commonwealth titles and medals.
In my first sprint race, I came up against Thierry Jollet, a French rider who was Junior World Champion a few years ago. I knew he was a top class rider, but wasn’t really sure about his form as I hadn’t seen him recently. The race was very tactical, but in the end I managed to attack from the back of the race and pass him with 20m to go. I was pleased with this as I didn’t really expect it.
Next, in the semi finals, I was racing another French rider, Michael D’Almeida. He is current Senior World Champion and one of the fastest riders in the world. Needless to say, I didn’t have many expectations going into this ride either, as it was almost assumed that he would win. In the race, I rode from the front, trying to unnerve him. With one lap to go, I committed and just had my head down for the line. With 20m to go I couldn’t see him and was surprised and a bit confused when I crossed the line first! I really didn’t think I would win that one, and it was my most prestigious win to date.
In the final, I came up against team mate Dave Daniell, another very quick guy. I lost this one as, although I raced well, I just let him get a little too far ahead and then ran out of legs a bit, but all in all a very good night! I’m very pleased with my performance, it was unexpected and surprising, and I really enjoyed the event.
On another note, I recently learnt that the Olympic Torch will be carried through Shelton and other parts of Stoke-on-Trent as part of the procession around Britain. This is great news for Shelton and the City of Stoke-on-Trent; it is a very prestigious award! I think there will be a ceremony in Hanley Park, which is really exciting because my mum used to take us there when we were kids to feed the ducks and play on the swings. The Olympic Torch symbolises
all the Olympic ideals of bringing people together and doing your best, and these can inspire all of us, whether athletes or not.
For more information visit:
October Blog...
Posted by: Barbara Emadi-Coffin on 4 October 2011
I think it's been about 6 weeks since my last post and a few things have happened since then. First of all, I raced at the Nationals Championships during the last week of September. These were difficult races as the line-up included 3 Olympic champions and other Olympic and World medallists. The 3 events I competed in were the keirin, sprint and team sprint. The keirin went ok, I raced well in the first two rounds and made it to the minor final, but there my legs got the better of my head and I attacked very early in a 'suicide move'. It meant that I faded in the last 50m and didn't manage to win. The sprint was a mixed bag. I qualified well, in a PB of 10.350 seconds for the 200m time trial, which I was happy with. Unfortunately, from there I didn't race very well, and a few little mistakes meant that I was knocked out of the competition. The last day of racing was the team sprint, my favourite event. I felt pretty good and our team ended up winning the bronze medal. I produced a nice individual lap time as well. This capped off an interesting championship for me, and hopefully I can take away the things on which I need to improve.
After the Nationals, I went on holiday to Tunisia with a friend from cycling, to enjoy my week off the bike. It was a really nice holiday with a lot of sun and relaxation. It was an interesting experience and all the concerns I had before travelling were unfounded. The hotel was really nice and clean, and the local people were friendly, if a bit enthusiastic. Upon my return, I found that my place on the British Cycling Olympic Academy had been extended for another year, which is always nice!
Now my training goes back to general fitness and strength, which means gym work and a lot of road miles. Hopefully the snow will hold off! I am also hoping to ride in the first of the Cycling Revolution series at the end of October. These are exhibition races with big crowds and a great atmosphere, and everyone enjoys riding them.
For more information visit:
September's Blog...
Posted by: Barbara Emadi-Coffin - Thursday 22 Sept 2011
This year I started training full time with the GB National Team. This means my training programme has changed quite a bit as I no longer have to work around school hours. I usually train six days per week and it is quite varied. In general, a training week consists of gym twice a week, with a two hour road ride afterwards. In addition, we have four track sessions a week to work on speed and acceleration. Longer road rides are also in the programme to maintain fitness and aerobic conditioning.
Whenever asked about what a typical training week contains, it is always difficult to answer as the training varies a lot depending on what I am focusing on improving. For example, during the winter, the focus is on strength and endurance so the training is tailored towards a lot of gym and road. As the season starts, the focus then switches to speed and explosive efforts.
I am now preparing for the National Championships at the end of September, and the training is a lot more specific with more emphasis on speed and power. I am not doing any gym sessions and not as much road riding. The races at the Nationals in which I will be competing are the sprint, the keirin and the team sprint. The sprint is preceded by a 200m qualification event. From this, riders are seeded and compete in a knockout competition. The keirin is a race which is paced by a motorbike for 2km, and then the last 500m are a free for all. The team sprint is similar to the relay in athletics, with three riders each doing one lap; however, the riders follow one another around the track and one peels off on each lap.
It will be quite a big competition, with all the top riders in the country entered, looking to test their form. Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Ross Edgar are three big names riding and have multiple Olympic medals to their names. It will be difficult but I'm looking forward to a big hit out with good form.
For more information visit:
copyright 2008 Sport Across Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent