Sunday, October 11, 2009

Bike Blenheim Palace

The highly acclaimed "Bike Blenheim Palace" was one of the last events on the 2009 Time Trial calendar for three members of the BAE Systems Insyte & Wight Mountain sponsored Wightlink/Offshore Race Team.
 
The spectacular grounds of Blenheim Palace played host to a day dedicated to a number of high profile events including a Time Trial, attracting a massive entry field of over 300 riders including the 2009 National Champions Michael Hutchinson and Julia Shaw, a Sportive ride, a Cyclo cross event, and the World Brompton Championships where the riders must compete on these incredible commuter folding bikes wearing suits. Some were so in the spirit that they even chose to wear bowler hats!
 
Team members Steve Taylor, Martin Piper and Sean Williams all competed in the early morning 20km Time Trial. Although a little chilly, the conditions were generally good for the race, which was a surprisingly technical course with good twists, turns, bumps and two interesting climbs, which actually suited the Islanders who are used to riding similar conditions on the local roads most days.
 
The first rider to complete was Steve Taylor with a time of 32mins, 46sec giving him a good final placing of 47th out of the 275 finishers. The next rider was Martin Piper who rode very strongly and was one of only a handful of riders on the day to break the 30 minute mark. His time of 29:59 placed him a superb 13th overall. The team rider of the day however was Sean Williams, who finished his best ever Time Trial season on a high just ahead of Martin in 9th place with an excellent time of 29:43. The event was won unsurprisingly by National Champion Michael Hutchinson with a staggering time of 26:21.
 
After the Brompton World Championship race the attention switched to the spectator friendly Cyclo Cross race, held in a small section of grassland in the palace grounds on a very twisty circuit, totally flat but not without technicality in the form of tight turns, a sprial centre point that was almost enough to make a rider dizzy, and two sets of hurdles forcing the riders to dismount. The race was to last for one hour which on this course worked out at nine laps for the winner, Jamie Newall (VC Meudon). Sean Williams of the Wightlink/Offshore team also started this event after doing the time trial and had high hopes for a good placing, but an injury to the ribs picked up in a race the week before flared up again on the hurdles on lap 4 while battling for a top ten position, forcing him to retire for the second cyclo-cross race in a row; a bit of a dissapoinment after his top ten position in the time trial earlier in the day.
 
This was a brilliant event, and will no doubt be on the agenda for the team again next year, who upon their return to the Island will now spend their time between now and the start of the new season (February 2010), preparing with a mix of solid base training and a number cyclocross events.
 
Keen followers can catch up with the latest news and results through the team website: www.wightlinkoffshore.co.uk
 

  Posted by Admin at 22:35 | October 2009 |   Comments ( 0 ) |   Link