Keirin
Keirin is a
track cycling event in which racing
cyclists sprint for victory.
Unlike the conventional track
sprint discipline where riders seek to '
draft' or '
slipstream' each other, in the first few laps of the Keirin, cyclists are paced by a motorised vehicle called a
derny or sometimes another cyclist, who leave the track a few laps before the end, at a speed of about 50 km/h. The first cyclist to finish the high-speed (sometimes at 70 km/h) race is the winner.
In championships, this event is conducted in several rounds. Eliminated cyclists get the opportunity try again in the
repechages.
Keirin began in
1948 in
Japan, and has become very popular there as a professional sport upon which the Japanese can bet on the outcomes of the races. In 1957, the Japanese Keirin Association was founded to establish a uniform system of standards for the sport. In spite of its popularity, Japanese cyclists do not usually feature in the medal contenders for this event at international championships.
Aspiring Keirin racers compete for entrance into Japan Keirin School. The 10 per cent of applicants fortunate enough to be accepted then undergo a strict, 15-hours per day, training regime. Those who pass the graduation exams, and are approved by the
Japan Keirin Association become eligible for Keirin races.
Keirin racing became an event at the
2000 Summer Olympics in
2000 at
Sydney, Australia.
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Mikishima Chaintug With NJS Stamp |
A unique result of the parimutuel gambling that surrounds Keirin racing in Japan, a strict system of standards were developed for bicycles and repair tools. There are currently 50
velodromes in operation that hold races where annually over 20 million people attend and place bets amounting to over ¥1.5 trillion. Since so much money is at stake,
Nihon Jitensha Shinkokai (the Japanese Bicycling Association a.k.a.
NJS) requires that all Keirin racers ride and use equipment that fits their standard, so that all riders use very similar bicycles and that no rider will have any advantage or disadvantage based on equipment, in addition to requiring riders pass strict licensing requirements.
All bicycles and equipment must be built within strict guidelines set by NJS and built by a certified builder using NJS approved materials. The products are then stamped by NJS and only equipment bearing this stamp may be used. Although it should noted that the NJS standard is to ensure that no rider will have any advantage or disadvantage based on equipment, and does not necessarily relate to quality or standard of manufacture, eg 36 spoke wheels are allowed but not 32, and frames must be built by a very limited number of approved builders.
Because of its popularity in Japan, NJS approved equipment often sells for triple the price for comparable equipment. NJS equipment can, for the most part, be obtained more cheaply outside of Japan. NJS equipment can usually be obtained for a better price in places like the US, Germany, France, or Italy where advanced technologies such as
carbon fiber are more popular and more commonly used in racing than the steel required of Keirin. NJS frames however, are still much more expensive than their advanced-material counterparts.
As of 2005,
Koichi Nakano is the all-time winning cyclist on the Japan Professional Keirin circuit, and holds the best record as a track cyclist at the World Championships with a record of ten consecutive Professional
Sprint World Cycling Championship wins from 1977-86 . At that time, many leading sprint riders were from from the Eastern bloc countries and had to compete in separate "amateur" events.
*
What's Keirin - English (pdf)*
About Keirin racing*
BBC Sport's description of Keirin*
Keirin Cycling Culture Café, Berlin, Germany*
Japan's Official Keirin Website (Japanese only)*
Japanese Keirin Association's Official Brochure 1996
