A WINTER'S TALE

Whittaker visits the BMFA NW Area Manchester Velodrome Fun Fly, a friendly and well-regarded indoor event.

- Alex Whittaker

Early Saturday morning in February and Big Suzy's enormous windscreen wipers were having trouble coping with Storm Dennis. Now, although Manchester's microclimate is famously damp, this deluge really put the tin hat on it. Some roads were flooded, others blocked, and a long diversion halfway to the Pennines prompted a hasty and lengthy re-route. As we crossed the dystopian metrops of Mankland in the pouring rain I finally understood all those dirgey pop lyrics by Manchester Miserablists like Morrissey and The Smiths.

ENTER THE VELODROME

Being a goodie two shoes, I still managed to arrive early at this rather unusual indoor venue. Inside the Manchester Velodrome is a dramatic, steeply banked, wooden indoor bicycle track. I watched open mouthed as a peloton of exotically clad riders in skintight Lycra hammered away at the finer points of indoor tactical racing. When they decided to open up to top speed, it was truly thrilling. You could literally feel the air move. It was amazing to be so close to the action and witnessing the pursuit of excellence.

However, it was soon 11.00am and time to enter the Velo's huge central area. It is an airy, lofty space and the floor to ceiling badminton nets keep models and cycles safely apart. An ideal venue for flying model aircraft.

ULTRALIGHT RUBBER