St Ives Cycling Club riders put on some great performances at the weekend, including a win, a top 10 in a National Mountain Bike Series and a strong ride against some of Britain’s best professionals.
19 year old Max Sahota, coached by local company 1stClass Fitness, won at Milton Keynes in his first ever year of road racing. His coach Lee Desborough said, “Max has only been riding a bike for two years and joined St Ives Cycling Club because of their excellent results on the road. This win will nodoubt be the first of many.”
[styled_image size=”small” align=”right” link=”http://www.stivescycling.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Holly1.jpg” lightbox=”yes” alt=””]http://www.stivescycling.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Holly1.jpg[/styled_image] He was promptly joined in top 10 by 13 year old Holly Hoy who took an excellent 9th round of the British National Mountain Bike Series in Essex. Holly rode a strong race and said, “It was my first national race and I was anxious about the level of the riders who I was competing against. However, I was familiar with the course as I have ridden events there in the past and I was able to place in the first more technical sections on the Saturday, which put me in a good position for the race.” Club members believe Holly could go a long way in the sport and are watching her progress closely.
The top 10s were polished off by Charlie Bratt, who took 6th in the Braintree Velo Road Race in Suffolk. Five riders managed to escape the bunch so Charlie took off on his own and soloed to a strong 6th place keeping the chasing bunch at bay. Charlie is coached by former professional rider Ben Price and his training will, no doubt, see him on the podium before too long.
Finally, Malcolm Smith faced a field of professionals when he took on the Coalville Road Race in Leicestershire. He was active all race and managed to escape the field many times, only to be pulled back by some strong riding from racers half his age. The race was won by Peterborough based Steve Lampier and Malcolm said, “Steve finished in an incredible 17th place in the Tour of Britain last year. He was less than 4 minutes behind Sir Bradley Wiggins after 8 stages and 30 hours of racing. This underlines the challenge I was facing on the day!”
Outside of racing, Lee Hilliam and Andy Cowburn completed the Wiggle Spring Saddles sportive in Newmarket. After helping the organisers ensure 2,500 riders parked their cars safely, Lee and Andy completed the 74 mile circuit in 4 hours 38 minutes.
The midweek time trials start again this week and members are looking forward to another busy weekend of racing and riding, less than 100 days before the Tour de France hits the county!
