Cycling: Rivals unseat record holders

CHRIS BOARDMAN and Graeme Obree, British cycling's men of the hour, were feted and beaten all in an afternoon on the final day of the British Track Championships at Leicester.

Boardman, the Olympic pursuit champion, elevated to an even higher level by his world one-hour record, attempted to lead his club, North Wirral Velo, to more honours, but was beaten by the power of the City of Edinburgh.

Yesterday Boardman and his club-mates, Paul Jennings and Matt Illingworth, were favourites to win the final in which riders peel off after a lap, leaving one man from each team to contest the last lap. Boardman drove hard but was almost two seconds down on Tony Stirrat at the finish.

Earlier in the week Obree had taken the individual pursuit title and secured a debut selection for the world track championships in Norway next month.

As the man who held the world hour record for six days, the Scot was used to disappointment. His only outing yesterday was to attempt to beat his British 10km record of 11min 52.91sec, set in May at Herne Hill.

After only three turns of a huge gear he stripped the thread on his back-wheel gear and had to try again, replacing the damaged one with a gear that was bigger and harder to turn. With a blustery wind sweeping the track he failed by 17 seconds, but now has bigger targets. After the world championships he plans to recapture the hour record from Boardman.

BRITISH TEAM (for World championships, Norway,17 to 29 August): MEN: 1km time trial: R Hayles (Haverhill). 4,000m pursuit: C Boardman (North Wirral Velo-Kodak), G Obree (Leo RT), S Wallace. Team pursuit: Hayles, B Steel (Haverhill), J Walshaw (North Wirral Velo-Kodak), G Coltman (Raleigh). Points: S. Lillistone, P Jennings (North Wirral Velo-Kodak). Road race: S Hempsall (GS Strada), M Postle (Delta), M Stephens (RT Italia), M McKay (CC Luton). 100km time trial: Boardman, Jennings, Lillistone, P Longbottom (North Wirral Velo-Kodak). Women's track: Individual pursuit: S Timmis (Raleigh). Road race (Oslo): Timmis, M Purvis (Manx Viking), S Phillips (Deeside Thistle), Y McGregor (Bradford Olympic).