This year’s World Track Cycling Championships run from the 25th to the 29th of March. In the first of a series of previews, trackcycling takes a peek behind the scenes of the biggest event ever to be staged by Polish cycling.
Wojciech Walkiewicz, President of the Polish Cycling Union and Deputy President of the Polish Olympic Committee spoke to Jerzy Bojanowicz.
Why was Poland entrusted with organising the World Track Cycling Championships?
The Polish Cycling Union (PZKol) had already organised many international events such as the European Road Cycling Championships, mountain cycling championships, cycling trials as well as the World Track Cycling Cup on the track in the north-western city of Szczecin.
We were asked to organise the World Championships while the cycling track in the town of Pruszków on the outskirts of Warsaw was still under construction.
The place where the championships will be held makes a great impression…
They were one of the underlying reasons for its construction. The championships were to have been held in 2008, but we had to resign from that date due to delays in construction. Manchester was finally chosen as the venue. However, the International Cycling Union (UCI) set a condition for entrusting us with the organisation of this year’s championships: that another large event be staged on the track. This was last September’s European Track Cycling Championships.
Despite a few minor gaffes, that test was passed with flying colours and also received the required government guarantee. The International Cycling Federation, the Championships’ proprietor sends an official every month to check progress. The Polish Cycling Union is ‘only’ the contractor.
By granting PZKol the right to organise these championships, the development of the whole terrain received a sharp stimulus, including the construction of a hotel with 120 beds.
How do you find the track, now it is finished?
It has been given a very high technical rating. It is the world’s fastest lowland track next to those in Sydney and Beijing. That is why I am sure world records will be broken on it during the championships.
What makes it so fast?
Its profile. A standard factor is the track’s length. World events (World Cups, World Championships, Olympic Games) are today staged on closed wooden tracks of 250 metres length. The principal factor consists in designing the most streamlined shape, the shortest straight section and smooth approach to bends. Existing tracks differ in width and curve. Our track is 7.1 metres wide, has a surface of 10,000 sqm and a very smooth and safe curve. This is felt most at very high speeds - the Pruszków track allows speeds exceeding 80 km/h to be successfully achieved.
Who designed it?
The track and hotel were designed by Wojciech Zabłocki, a well-known architect and an outstanding Polish fencer with several Olympic successes to his credit in the 1950s and 1960s, while the heart of the track is the work of Ralf Schurmann, a German architect-engineer. His grandfather built several wooden tracks, including the Centenary cycling track in the Hala Ludowa (People’s Hall) in Wrocław. Schurmann has constructed all the world’s highest quality wooden tracks.
The surface is of Siberian pine wood which was dried and cut into strips in Germany. Were they laid one after another in a straight line it would be 164 km long. The track was laid by a special team which arrived in Pruszków straight from Beijing (it included two Polish skilled workers). Though they were assisted by surveyors, an error arose which can reach 2 mm depending on air humidity and temperature. The wood is completely unprotected, which means a specific microclimate must be maintained in the hall.
Who does it belong to?
It is owned by the Polish Cycling Union whose strategic sponsor is Bank BGŻ, which is why the track is called Arena BGŻ
Why was it constructed in Pruszków?
I have been president of the Polish Cycling Union for four terms (since 1996). A major item in my programme from the very outset was a dream: to construct a fully fledged cycling track. Though we have had successes in track cycling, we just did not have such a facility in Poland.
We first tried to find a place in the city of Łódż, then in Warsaw where we planned to construct it on the land of the KS ‘Spójnia’ club, but that was where the Polish Olympic Committee finally decided to establish its head office.
The next choice was Wrocław and here the required means were even allotted. But the city had more ambitious plans in its bid to host the EXPO, with a large sports hall uppermost in mind.
Those experiences taught me one thing – that such a track will never be constructed if I have to depend on others. I succeeded in convincing Jan Starzyński, president of Pruszków, who transferred almost 5 hectares of land to PZKol in permanent usufruct [the legal right to use and derive profit or benefit from property that belongs to another person, as long as the property is not damaged – Ed]. In my opinion the location is excellent: less than 20 km from Warsaw city centre (25 km by WKD commuter train), near an airport and the planned end section in nearby Konotopa of the A2 motorway.
Construction commenced at the turn of 2003 and encountered many problems including some which resulted from geological conditions. The velodrome was set on a peat foundation which required concreting of a special basin. I would just add that the result was a work of engineering art with a total area of 11,000m2, utility area of 15,000 m2, volume of 255,000 m3 and a maximum height of 32 m. 14,000m3 of concrete was used in its construction. The steel roof of 10,800m2 has the shape of a basket curve of 67.6m and 46.4m radiuses, like an ellipse of 100m and 116.4m diameters. The arc lattice girder has a span of 31.1 – 100m, the radius (in axis) being 79.3m. It required 520 tons of steel to construct the roof.
The track proper cost PLN 91 m (£17.3m). The building houses the head office of the Polish Cycling Union, we are the joint proprietor of the mentioned hotel and are planning to construct a track for BMX. A sports and recreation complex has thus been created with a swimming pool in the vicinity.
What kind of competitors are expected in the World Championships?
The right to participate in the world championships is earned based on the results registered by national representatives in the five World Cups in Manchester, Melbourne, Cali (Colombia), Beijing and Copenhagen (13-15.02). Around 35 national teams will surely compete. All champions from the Beijing Olympics will be present, including triple gold-medal holder Sir Chris Hoy of Britain who won the plebiscite for best British sportsman and was awarded a knighthood in December for his outstanding results.
The World Track Cycling Championships will be an event of the very highest ranking in which there will be more cyclists participating than during the Olympic Games.
And what can be expected from Polish competitors?
I think we can count on one medal, perhaps even two. We are still working our way up the ladder. We would be able to give a better display in some 4 or 5 years since it is the London Olympic Games in 2012 which we uppermost in mind.
The Pruszkowskie Towarzystwo Cyklistów (Pruszków Cyclists Association) was reactivated last year in which there are two competitors from the Beijing Olympic Games and which has a large group of talented youngsters on its list including European and world junior ladies champions. I am sure that all who treat track cycling seriously will train on this track.
This article originally appeared on Polish Market Online and is reproduced with permission http://www.polishmarket.com.pl
Photo tor-pruszkow2008.pl