TRACK STEERING: THE BEST ON THE HIGHWAY
Cycling has always been a popular sport in Latvia. Already at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games, Andrejs Apsītis participated in a 320-kilometer group race, reaching the finish line after more than 12 hours of riding, but during the first independent state, track cyclists continued the tradition. “Before and after the Second World War, trekking was clearly the most popular form of cycling in Latvia. An interesting event, also, imagine what the Latvian roads were like,” says Igo Japiņš, adding that at that time there were Marsa velotrek, Ancestral silo track in Baltezera, later ovals also appeared in Ventspils and Liepāja. “Also, I read in old books that when they went to a race in Petersburg, the men stopped to train on the Valmiera track.”
In 1947 the Mežapark hosted the first USSR master races in the 100 and 200 kilometer group races, streams of fans flocked to these events, as well as the Song Festival. At that time, cycling celebrities in Latvia were Alberts Džarcāns and Voldemārs Lassi. It was around that time that a new star appeared in the sky of the sport, when the boy from Čiekurkalns Harijs Japiņš became the winner of the national cross-country, highway and track competition at the age of 16. “He was a healthy boy, from a distance he could pretend to be perfect”, recalls his father Igo Japiņš. “It’s clear that cycling was in his genes and also brought results. He also had an excellent desire to win, the desire to be the best.” In 1952 Harijs Japiņš participated in the Olympic Games in Helsinki, but remained a reserve member of the USSR athletics team, while in 1955, despite specializing in athletics, he celebrated the victory in the history of the first Baltic multi-day cycling race on street. “On the track there are sprinters and stairs, that is, short-distance runners and long-distance runners, starting from four kilometres. Since he was a staister, the track specialization was not very far from road cycling. To ride well on the track , you also need to train on the motorway, while for road cyclists, training on the track helps to develop speed characteristics,” Igo Japiņš explains that the motorway and the track are very connected. Harijs Japiņš has always been an active person and in 1960, having already finished his sporting career, he participated as a spectator in the Olympic Games in Rome. “He IS quite mysterious, because in those days he was not allowed abroad, but he never joined the party,” wonders the son.
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2024-01-14 16:00:53
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