Keirin is big business in Japan. In the year to March 2025, punters wagered \u00a51.328 trillion (about $14.8 billion) on the bike races. To ensure fair and legitimate racing and betting, riders are stripped of any method of communication for up to four days around each race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different world \u2013 very surreal and a little insane,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cIt\u2019s something we all know about, but few people outside of Japan have actually been able to experience. I was very lucky to get the invite.<\/p>\n
Ellesse Andrews (in red) racing at the Keirin World Series in Hofu. Photo \/ Cotaro Ishii, More Cadence<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to take out that many wins, but it was really good, hard racing all the time.\u201d One race was a dead heat with Olympic keirin silver medallist Hetty van de Wouw. \u201cIt was very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sport of keirin is taken extremely seriously. Andrews had to attend 10 days of study at Keirin School in Shuzenji in March, sitting an exam on the rules, tactics and traditions of keirin to earn her racing licence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fascinating just understanding how many riders in Japan are doing this as their fulltime jobs. There are around 2500 men and 300 women who compete year-round. This is their life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe girls I talked to have two or three races most months, and they\u2019re away from home around six days for each race. Some of them had children at home too. It\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organisers approached the Kiwi rider after she won three medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, including gold in the keirin, and it piqued her interest. French sprint world champion Mathilde Gros, a good friend of Andrews, had competed in the series before Covid and had also been invited back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of things I had to consider, especially because I\u2019m part of the New Zealand track team, and the team sprint as well,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cBut it\u2019s such an incredible opportunity and this was the perfect year to do it. From this point onwards, with Olympic qualifying now starting, it becomes a little trickier.\u201d<\/p>\n
If she took up the offer of living in Japan for four months from May, it would mean Andrews training alone in the lead-up to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in late July. \u201cBut we had a clear focus on strength on the bike and building muscle in the gym during that period, and I knew those were things I could work on while I was away from the team,\u201d she says. So she said yes.<\/p>\n
Ellesse Andrews (in green) has had 18 wins from 19 starts in the Keirin World Series in Japan. Photo \/ Cotaro Ishii, More Cadence<\/p>\n
Handing over any data tracking devices \u2013 \u201canything that could emit a signal\u201d \u2013 when she arrived at the track, Andrews had to go without the Bluetooth headphones she usually listens to music through before a race.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy full warm-up was completely no music which is something very interesting for me,\u201d she says. \u201cNext time I could buy an old-school iPod.\u201d<\/p>\n
For entertainment, she bought a DVD player and movies from the second-hand Bookoff stores around Japan. \u201cThey had every movie I wanted to see,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI would also journal and read quite a bit. And daily routines ended up taking up the time, so I was never bored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrews discovered distinct differences between the Olympic keirin and the traditional Japanese sport introduced in 1948 to boost morale and raise funds for reconstruction after World War II.<\/p>\n
Most of the racing is on outdoor concrete tracks, between 330m and 500m long. The pacer rides a pedal bike rather than motor-pacing by a derny. Seven riders line up in every women\u2019s race (nine in the men), each wearing a randomly drawn colour on their jersey and helmets.<\/p>\n
Women ride carbon bikes, while men compete on traditional steel frames with smaller gears. Women aren\u2019t allowed to touch during a race, but men are prepared for body contact \u2013 blocking, shoulder barging and head butting \u2013 and wear \u201carmour\u201d under their jerseys and down their shins.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a dangerous sport. In July, Olympic silver medallist sprinter Toshiaki Fushimi died after crashing into a side barrier in a keirin race. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe girls\u2019 racing is very safe,\u201d says Andrews. \u201cThere are warnings and disqualifications if we touch. I had to pay a little fine for one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riders are interviewed the night before the race and have to declare the tactics they intend to use.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would always say \u2018senko makuri\u2019, which means I could go long or I could go short,\u201d Andrews says. In other words, she could sprint from the front early in the race or wait to unleash a burst of speed at the finish. She wasn\u2019t giving much away to the press or punters.<\/p>\n
Another difference is in the prizemoney for riders \u2013 and it\u2019s significantly higher for men.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the men\u2019s grand prix race at the end of the season, the winner can take home around US$1 million [$1.78m],\u201d she says. \u201cThe top-earning Japanese woman rider last year won around NZ$500,000 for the year,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrizemoney is something we\u2019ve only had here and there in track racing, like the Champions League I raced in for two years.\u201d It\u2019s not known just how much Andrews earned in Japan, and she departed the series before the season finale.<\/p>\n
Ellesse Andrews: “It\u2019s a completely different world \u2013 very surreal and a little insane.\u201d Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
Andrews wasn\u2019t the first Kiwi to contest the keirin world series. Paige Paterson was among the first international women invited to race professionally in Japan in 2013, and two-time Olympian Natasha Hansen won 26 races during her three consecutive years from 2017. Simon van Velthooven and Sam Webster competed for New Zealand in the men\u2019s series in the past.<\/p>\n
Leaving midway through the series to race at the Commonwealth Games \u2013 where she won silver in the keirin and bronze in the 1km time trial \u2013 was challenging, Andrews admits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have a lot of feedback through data or times because I\u2019d been training alone,\u201d she says. \u201cI hadn\u2019t had much time with the team for the team sprint for example, or enough time working on starts which are really important in putting a good ride together.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, I also got Covid beforehand, and it made things a bit tricky. That also happened to me before the 2022 Commonwealth Games, so there was a bit of deja vu. But I felt a lot better as I went through the week \u2013 recovering from that illness and getting my indoor track legs back. So I was really stoked about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrews expects to be in stronger form when she leaves next week for the world track cycling championships in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
She will have had six weeks\u2019 training at home, transferring her strength work in the gym into speed on the track, and will race the team sprint, the individual sprint and the keirin.<\/p>\n
The team sprint\u2019s goal is to finish in the top eight to qualify for the 2028 LA Olympics. Andrews will ride with double Olympian Rebecca Petch, Hamilton\u2019s Olivia King and promising Southland teenager Riley Faulkner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done some really good work in the last few weeks and it\u2019s been nice to see all of the different phases of this year come together,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cIt\u2019s great being immersed in the team environment again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the disconnection from the outside world demanded by keirin racing, Andrews hasn\u2019t ruled out returning to Japan in the future \u2013 if the time period was shorter and it worked in with her plans to compete at the next Olympics and defend her titles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really glad I went this year. It was a special experience and I got to know these riders so much better,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the girls are quite aligned in the way we understand sport and the way we think. I was able to form some really special friendships that go beyond competition and sport. They\u2019re not always easy to form when you\u2019re competing against each other or have the mindset that friendship is bigger than sport.\u201d<\/p>\n