"Mystic Manchester" leads to medal enquiry

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World records may be rejected if scientific evidence is found

By Cheyenne Spokes

Following the lighting-quick times recorded at the world track championships in Manchester last week, scientists are looking into claims that a phenomena known as ley lines could have played a part in both those high speeds and the fantastic performance of the British team. Experts are looking into potential interaction between the mystical ley line and the stripes on the British team's skinsuits as a speed enhancer.

Manchester just happens to lie in direct alignment with two important archaeological and spiritual sites which are located along a hypothetical ley line: Stonehenge and Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. Some New Age theories propose that these lines resonate psychic or mystical energy, generating powerful electrical or magnetic forces.

"Skeptics try to play this down because they cannot explain it with science," said longtime ley line expert Martyn Erlin to Cyclingnews on Monday. "They need to see to believe, they need to be able to measure and to quantify for something to exist. However there's a huge amount of examples from the recent and distant history of this country to show that something inexplicable, unquantifiable yet wonderful is going on."

Manchester has long been regarded as a fast track but the number of world records, track standards and personal bests broken during the recent championships led experts such as Mr M. Erlin to ponder if something more significant was taking place.

Erlin theorized that the triple stripes which adorn the British team's skinsuits came into harmony with the ley lines when the riders got into their aero tucks, and it's possible that the harmonic consonance between the parallel lines created a vacuum in front of the riders, creating less wind resistance and enhancing their speed.

"It’s early days yet but my belief is that the recent resurfacing in the velodrome is one of the reasons why we are now seeing a change to the energy patterns," he said, a couple of hours after British Cycling officials escorted him off the premises and promised legal action. "We made some drillings prior to being interrupted and it seems that a very special type of pine was used for the new track surface. This is more porous to the energies than the previous covering."

When questioned about the British men's pursuit team, which wore the white UCI leader's kit rather than the standard British team strip, Erlin revealed that the riders had worn special undershirts with the triple-stripe pattern, indicating that the team was fully aware of the interaction with the mythical ley lines.

In the past hour Cyclingnews has learned that this mystical home advantage is being investigated by both the UCI and the IOC, and that the outcome could have severe implications for the nine gold medals won. An official from the latter organisation, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, said that the results of the races could be in doubt if it was shown that such forces were at work.

"In a time when everything is being done to limit banned performance enhancers, it would be hypocritical of us to accept anything that may have benefited from a boost. No matter what that boost is. We'll be studying this very carefully and if it can be shown that anything peculiar was at work in Manchester, gold medals and world records may well be scrapped. Down with this sort of thing."