McGregor back on track for hour mark

March 05, 2002

The 2000 world champion and Olympic medallist Yvonne McGregor yesterday confirmed that she is returning to competition less than six months after tearfully announcing her retirement at the world track championships.

The Yorkshirewoman is currently in training for an attack on the European women's one-hour distance record in mid-April, by which time she will be 41.

"It's a personal thing for me, it will be the last big thing that I ever do on the bike," she explained. "I felt my career had ended in a damp squib at the worlds last year because of circumstances beyond my control. The idea is to say farewell to the fans in Manchester, which is my home track."

It would also mean that McGregor would bow out of cycling in the same way as her former mentor Chris Boardman, who brought down the curtain on his career with a successful one-hour attempt in Manchester. Boardman ran McGregor's team at one point, and used to help her fix her bikes. He is now happily retired and, she says, he is mystified by her decision.

This is hardly surprising. Boardman had to be helped off his bike after his record attempt and could not walk for two days. The hour-distance record is simple - the cyclist races for 60 minutes on the track, trying to go further than the previous mark - but it is unremitting effort, and there is no hiding if it goes badly.

McGregor has already broken the record once, in 1995, and has always considered that her stamina actually makes her more suited to such long-distance efforts than to the brief and intense pursuit discipline where she won her medals. The current record distance, 43.4km (27.1 miles), was set by Holland's Leontien van Moorsel last September.

The idea of the record attempt was born in Antwerp last September even as McGregor failed to retain the pursuit title which she had won a year earlier in front of a jubilant crowd at Manchester in the triumphant aftermath of the Sydney Olympics. "I didn't have brilliant form because I had been injured and couldn't do the training," she says now of her fourth place.

Initially McGregor pondered an attempt during the winter, and hinted that she might continue racing in local events. "I was never going to stop right away, because I love riding my bike, and I've had a good time riding with no pressure, no pulse monitor, just riding on feel and enjoying myself. Then I did a test in January which showed I was better than this time last year, and decided to make a concerted effort."

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