The Italian Job
A couple of weeks ago William Barclay and Paul Ferguson made the trip to Como, in Northern Italy to race in the Gran Fondo Giro di Lombardia. This event takes in 145 kms of racing in one of the most beautiful (and hilly) parts of the world.
Turbo Terrific!
The first of the winter’s turbo sessions under the guidance of sports scientist Darren McWilliams was a fantastic success last Wednesday night. It’s a long time since the clubrooms have been such a hive of activity.
Before the evening commenced, Darren gave a short talk on maintaining fitness throughout the winter and the importance of setting specific training levels and using them in preparation for all forms of cycling. He then assisted the members to set their own thresholds.
After an arduous session on the turbos, some were even tempted to ‘have a go’ on the club’s competition rollers. Clearly the testosterone levels were high and the competitive instincts keen, as the likes of Wilf Renshaw set a personal best time of 1 minute 18 seconds for the kilometre.
Ciaran Big Wheel in Cycling
At last week’s North Down AGM, local architect Ciaran Andrews became the ‘big wheel’ in local cycling, taking on the mammoth task of Honoury General Secretary and Chairman. However, as an experienced committee man Ciaran clearly has the expertise and the acumen to carry off the role. He takes over the position of secretary from Flo Millar, who will remain as registrar.
Trip to the Tip
As a recently retired veteran cyclist with North Down Cycling Club, Noel Boyce has been clocking up many miles on his bike, taking him all over Northern Ireland. However, with the summer being such a wash out, Noel felt that he had really missed out. He explains that, ‘It's not that I am a fair weather cyclist; I just don't enjoy starting in the rain. So when we got a period of settled weather at the end of September, I decided to have one last 'good' spin before having a rest prior to the winter training season.’
Henry – Northern Ireland Young Sports Person of the Year
North Down Cycling Club was delighted when it was announced that 17 year old Stuart Henry had been selected to represent Northern Ireland at the OCS Young Sports Person Awards 2008, in London later this year.
When asked what his reaction was he replied: ‘I’m really surprised. I knew that the opposition would be really tough. I had met most of the athletes at various training camps in recent years and knew that they were all of a very high calibre’.
Hunting for PB’s
North Down Cycling Club’s John Hunter made yet another foray into the realms of unchartered territory when he recorded another personal best, in the Northern Ireland 25 mile time trial championships. John’s time of 57 minutes and 59 seconds, in difficult, windy conditions, took over 3 minutes of his previous personal best time of 1hour 1 minute and 3 seconds. Amazingly this is the tenth occasion this season when the amiable Englishman has achieved a personal best time – quite a feat!