Some of you may have heard of plans to establish a new open air velodrome in the North East.  In fact, there are two possibilities, which is very hopeful for our region.  First and most advanced is a plan to develop a velodrome in Darlington based on an old cinder track on the outskirts of the town.  This would be quite a large track with a tarmac surface and moderate banking - 490 metres or so.  For comparison, Manchester is 250 metres.  It is understood that work on this may start early in 2009. 

The second possibility, but a bit further off, is at South Shields.  There is an existing track at Gypsies Green Stadium.  This facility could be improved, but needs a lot of work and is on a site earmarked for redevelopment as a hotel.  There is likely to be opposition to this plan from local residents, but the encouraging news is that my contacts in South Tyneside Borough Council are keen to establish a velodrome elsewhere in the town - and that they would be looking for a voluntary partnership to help run this.  This is likely to take up to five years.  If everything goes wrong with the hotel application, Gypsies Green is definitely worth refurbishing.  The venue is very similar to the velodrome and athletics facility at Aldersley near Wolverhampton, which is a fantastic facility for local riders. 

Third development is in grass track racing.  Newcastle Phoenix have established a simple grass track at Blakelaw and our club has now raised the issue of creating a banked grass track at Hetton Lyons with Sunderland City Council. 

Although much of this is speculative, it does seem that things are moving in the right direction and we will all soon have at least one alternative to the long trek down to Manchester - worthwhile though it always is.

Tony Hodgson