UCI Para World Championships

I just thought I'd send you a quick update on how my training is going for London 2012.

My training has been up and down since I went full time in January 2009. I've completed a number of training camps which has helped me with my endurance on the bike.

I completed the May 2009 Paralympic World Cup and won 2 gold medals in both my events, the kilometre time trial and the sprint races. I also completed the National Outdoor Championships for able bodied Tandem riders and came 3rd which I was very pleased with as it was my first race outdoors and also with new pilot, Dave Readle.

After this competition my head coach decided to try each stoker with different pilots to get the best team together. I was put through quite a lot of mental stress with this as I did'nt know who I would be teamed up with for the next big competition, the UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships, which is this weekend, Friday 6 - Sunday 8 November.

Finally the teams were chosen and team building training begin. I was also informed I was guaranteed to be part of the paracycling team for at least the next 12 months and being supported by UK Sport.

A lot of time spent on the track and in the gym is beginning to pay off as myself and Dave are producing excellent times. We hope to be amongst the medals this weekend!!

Posted by Simon Jackson 04/11/2009

Helvellyn Triathlon

Greetings. This may well be the last triathlon of the year.

A week last Sunday (6 September) I made the trip up to Lakeland and Glenridding to compete in the notoriously tough Helvellyn Triathlon.

A friend and my son made up the support team and helped keep warmth in the somewhat cosy 2 man tent. There had been a couple of weeks heavy rain which meant Ullswater lake had collected a lot of cold water off the surrounding mountains and reduced the water temp. to just 11 degrees. This meant the swim was reduced from a scheduled mile down to around 1200 metres.

600 braved the cold, and the conditions made it a pretty aggresive swim as competitors worked hard to generate some heat into their extremities. I shivered out of the Lake in around 19 minutes and somewhere around the top 30 and set out on the bike leg feeling strong and looking forward to the serious undulations of the 38 mile bike course. After heading out North to the A66 Penrith to Cockermouth Road, the route headed through the gorgeous Thirlmere valley past Grassmere and in to Ambleside. This is were the ride gets serious with the 1 in 4 ascent of 'the struggle' over several miles to the top of the Kirkstone Pass. I made good progress through the field to reach the top in 12th place overall and leading veteran. Previously in this event, I have overcooked it on the bike and left myself short of energy for the killer run at the end. This time I felt well within myself and pressed on home down the Kirkstone Pass trying not to touch the brakes too much without risking an argument with a drystone wall!! I maintained my position with a bike split of 1 hour 54 minutes and ditched the bike in exchange for the compulsory kit needed for the fell run to the summit of Hellvelyn and back. This required you to carry full
outer clothing, map, whistle, food and drink. See race photos...

The run course measured 9 miles in total. The climb to the top takes you steeply up via Swirrel Edge which in many places is far quicker to stride up than to try and run and at 3,118 feet (3rd highest mountain in England). The conditions on top make you realise how important the extra kit could be. Spare a thought for the countless martials who brave the elements for such a long time until the last competitor has passed through.

As I scrambled over the top I still had a 12th position but knew that the descent over the remaining 5 miles would see me move down the order. My main aim was to avoid cramp and protect the knees which I knew would potentially throw away any sort of descent finish if I was not careful. Inevitably the fell runners made it look easy but I was satisfied just to get back to Glenridding still with running in my legs and crossed the line in 24th and 5th over 40.

This will probably be my last tri this year and it has convinced me I will need to have some knee investigations carried out so that I can have a good winters run training and achieve my best in 2010. I cannot believe how fast the season has gone. Thankfully I love the training as much as racing so even though the races are now few and far between there will still be challenges.

My finish time was 3 hours 59 minutes and just beat the 4 hour bench mark I was aiming for!

Posted by Andrew Pilling 15/09/2009

Civic Reception for Golden Girl Keri-Anne Payne

Newly crowned World Swimming Champion and local Olympics heroine, Keri-Anne Payne has attended a Civic Reception held in her honour by the Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale.
In front of friends and family, the 21 year old athlete from Heywood, showed off the gold medal won in the women’s 10km open water race at the swimming world championships held in Rome in July. Maintaining her favourite lead position, Keri-Anne fought of the Italian and Russian competition winning the race by a body length and just one second in a little over 2 hours.

It is just twelve months since Keri-Anne was welcomed to the Town Hall after her silver medal performance at the Beijing Olympics. Congratulating her on her latest achievement, Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Keith Swift indicated that a civic reception was likely to become an annual event in the mayor’s calendar. He went on to say, "Our many congratulations go to Keri-Anne for her fantastic achievement. Heywood is rightly proud of her – but it is a pride that is shared by everyone throughout the borough of Rochdale."

Guests attended the evening reception held at Rochdale Town Hall on Tuesday 8 September when presentations to Keri-Anne from Rochdale Borough Council and boroughwide cultural trust Link4Life promised continued sponsorship up to 2012 to support her training for the London Olympic Games.

Presenting a cheque from Heywood Township for £2,000, Councillor Alan McCarthy said, "Keri-Anne is a shining example of dedication and hard work and shows that our local young people can be the best in the world. We are delighted with her victory in Rome and hope this continues to gold medal success in 2012."

Keri-Anne was also presented with a Talented Athlete Award from Deputy Managing Director of Link4Life, Peter Kilkenny. This award gives an annual cash grant of £1,000 together with free use of all Link4Life fitness and pool facilities. Twelve local athletes are receiving this support. The Talented Athlete Support Scheme is designed to provide assistance to the borough’s high performing athletes to help them to achieve medal success particularly for 2012. Making the presentation, Peter Kilkenny said, "We congratulate Keri-Anne on her success, she is a fantastic ambassador for sport and a real role model for all our future athletes. We are delighted to be able to give this support to Keri-Anne."

A tired Keri-Anne - who had flown in that morning from New York – was also sporting some bruises from a particularly challenging American 10km competition. In thanking everyone for coming along she said, "It makes a huge difference to any competitive athlete to receive this kind of support. Swimming is not a cheap sport and this money will really help."

She went on to sign autographs and chat to guests who included a group of young swimming hopefuls from the Aquabears swimming club and her former Rochdale swimming coach, Dave Crouch. There was also the chance to swap competition news with another local swimming champion, Jamie Kelly. Twenty year old Jamie from Newbold has been with Aquabears for around five years and recently won two gold medals at the Special Olympics held in Leicester in July.

Posted by Link4Life 10/09/2009

Shand's best yet in Belgium

Read the full report on the Five-day Tour de la Province de Namur on Rochdale's Scott USA team rider Daniel Shand in the Rochdale Observer

Ironman UK

Ironman UK from Rivington and Bolton was extremely well supported by local people and visiting spactators. The atmosphere was tremendous, particularly as you rode through Rivington 3 times and along the run route between Horwich and Bolton centre. Ahead of me I had a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile ride and marathon run.

More than 1700 triathletes had signed up for the arduous challenge not least of which was a 6 am swim start on the choppy reservoir. The organisers had said that 41 countries were represented amongst this number!

The swim went really well and I felt comfortable as I exited around the top 50 mark. Most of the professional athletes had emerged some 5-10 minutes earlier. At the end of the day I need to compete against age groupers in my own veteran category so thankfully the pros might as well be in another event altogether.

It turns out I was well placed for a World championship qualification at this point but these are the early stages and a great deal can happen. The ride was 3 laps of 37miles each with some tough drags and otherwise constantly undulating roads. The first and second laps both were on schedule to bring me back within my target time and I lost a little pace on the last circuit mainly over lost concentration but still came in 10 minutes inside schedule and maintaining my race position.

There were great crowds around the Rivington venue as I started the run and the temperature had risen markedly. I carefully controlled my run pace avoiding getting giddy and setting off too quick. It was brilliant to see my family and Rochdale Tri
Club friends who were out supporting me and several other club members. This really is a lift when you hit rock bottom. I reached the place referred to as 'rock bottom' by about 13 miles, with still a long way still to go! The qualifying opportunity slipped by as I rapidly tired and shuffled in with a 4 hour plus marathon. The finish time of 11 hrs 21 mins was by no means shabby but was no good for a World Champs slot.

I think it will take a good winters training and some guidance from marathon guru's to get me on track to crack this Ironman run. I remain positive. Posted by Andrew Pilling 10/08/2009

Final week before Ironman UK

What a brilliant result for Keri-Anne. I'm in the last week before the Ironman UK Triathlon 2009 at Rivington, Bolton on 2 August. That's 140.6 miles, including a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run. Last few weeks have gone reasonably well with the highlight being a few days in the Pyrenees taking in several amazing mountain rides and a couple of stages of the Tour de France. The scenes were breathtaking and gave us a glimpse of the tough life of a tour professional.

Rest is the order of the day now as nothing will be gained by hard training at this late stage. If I've got any concerns, it's for the marathon, as I've really not done the long runs since Lanzarotte Ironman in May - nursing a sore knee which may need a cartilage clean out pretty soon due to the many years of wear and tear.

This week I will try and keep off the pies and beer and relax. It will be vital to be in a positive frame of mind if only to dull some of the pain ahead! Before I know it my alarm clock will be going off at 3.30am to get ready for a 6am splash in Rivington Reservoir. Whats it all about? Posted by Andrew Pilling

Daniel Shand good form continues

Daniel's current good form continued last week with a 2nd place at Geel, in northeast Belgium. Read the full report in the Rochdale Observer