For super-quick times, add cyclone and dash of Meares input

WITH help from Anna Meares and Cyclone Iris, Brisbane’s new velodrome has lived up to its lightning-fast reputation, with three Commonwealth and one world record falling on the first day of racing and the prospect of more to come.

Meares helped design the venue which is named in her honour and was watching from the stands as Australia won three gold medals to open the Games on Thursday.

“The architect came to Ad- elaide to meet me when it was in the early stages to get to know what an athlete requires from a velodrome to put air flow and fans in, so I just made them aware of things,” Meares said yesterday.

“It was a very small input but it was nice to be consulted.”

But the riders also had a little help from Cyclone Iris, which has been menacing the Queensland coast this week.

“It was always going to be fast, but with Cyclone Iris, even though she’s now gone into a rain depression, she really brought in the low barometric pressure and high humidity so we got three of the four environmental factors to help make it fast,” Meares said.

Meares was all smiles from the stands watching on with sister Kerrie as her former teammates Kaarle McCulloch and Stephanie Morton won the women’s team sprint in Games-record time.

“I don’t know why but I was a little bit stressed and emotional getting to the velodrome,” Meares said.

“But once I was there and settled in, it was actually a lot of fun to watch such really good performances.

“I always cheered for the team anyway so it was cool to do it from a different side, and for every Commonwealth and world record to fall on a track that has my name on it, you can’t ask for much more.

“And it was a phenomenal ride from our men’s team pursuit who broke the world record.

“The scenes last night were just ecstatic and I have goosebumps just thinking about it.”