Last week, we had 3 Kelly Cycle Coaching athletes plus Level 1 (pending) coach Rob, compete in the Masters Road Nationals.  The athletes flying the flag for us were:

• Leigh Parsons
• Mark Cummings
• Edward Smith and
• Kelly Cycle Coach, Rob Regester

These athletes competed in the time trial, criterium and road race events.

Time Trial
Ed and Mark both finished 16^th in their TT while Rob finished in 6^th position. A former athlete of ours Peter Quibell had a great TT in his Masters 4 division to take home a bronze medal.  Peter has been training hard for the TT and we congratulate him on this achievement after months of grueling morning ergo sessions.

Criterium
In the critierium, Mark was pushed off the road in the final bend and forced to do some cycle cross riding.  Luckily he kept it upright but this put him out of contention for top 5 result.  He commented to us that he felt great and was disappointed with the dirt riding incident.

Leigh has been recovering from a slight back injury but did well to finish in the main field. Ed (a former ironman) has transition to cycling after a period of focusing on family and work.  He fought hard and finished in 22^nd position, telling us afterwards of his difficulty on the narrow circuit to move up to contest the sprint finish.

Road Race
Leigh Parsons, along with his team mates Andy Naylor and Peter Jones competed in the Masters 3 road race.  They raced hard and were in all the major moves during the 80km road race.  The strong cross winds played havoc with many riders and the bunch had decreased to 9 riders by the final lap, chasing a break away pair of two riders.  Andy won the bunch sprint to get onto the podium in 3rd, whilst Leigh and Peter finished 10th and 12th, respectively.  It was only a lapse in electrolyte consumption that cost Leigh a higher finish with cramps taking over with 1km to go, making it difficult for him to sprint.

Mark Cummings felt great in the road race and didn’t have any difficulty with the hills or constant attacks.  He positioned well for the bunch sprint and finished in 15th position.  With some gentle encouragement from Kelly Cycle Coaching, Mark has agreed to focus more on a structured core and weights program, along with stretching and rolling his ITB’s on a foam roller.  After initially being skeptical, he admits that the difference is already noticeable.  He feels more balanced and much stronger when sprinting and climbing. Good stuff Cummquott!!!

For all the results please click here.