News Alert!
Monkeys Go Bananas In Cyprus…
Orange Monkey riders Paul Beales and Will Cooper flew out to Cyprus last week to compete in one of the first world ranking races of the year, the Sunshine cup.
After Will crashed and injured himself in training the week previous he could only watch on from the technical area as he supported Paul throughout the three day stage race in the Troodos mountain range. The race attracts some of the best Mountain Bike racers in the world including the Belgian, Russian, Czech-Republic and Swedish national squads which feature two riders ranked inside the top 10 in the world, Roel Paulisson and Fredrik Kessiakoff.
The race starts with a point to point race, of around 50 kilometres, then onto a Mountain bike Time-Trial of 10km and finishing with a Mountain bike race on day three just under the 50km mark. The race winds up and down the steep slopes of the Troodos and includes some tough climbs on both road, fire road and off road singletrack as well as some awesomely steep descents over loose dust, rocks and roots.
Paul started the race on day one at a steady pace climbing well and staying relaxed mixing with some of the worlds elite riders. The course had a large amount of climbing on both open fire road and singletrack before a long technical downhill finish which kept you on your toes with lots of tight hairpins and steep rocky sections. Paul finished the first stage in a creditable 43rd position, not bad in his first elite campaign. Day two saw the time trial stage (one of Paul’s strengths) and he was pushed to the limit around the 10 kilometre course finishing in 29th position on the day, an excellent result amongst some top riders. So to the third day, a start loop of around 5km followed by five laps of the 8km course gave no mercy and with heavy legs and 2 days hard racing behind him Paul pushed himself to the limit once more to try and stay on the same lap as the worlds leading mountain bikers! All was going to plan as he kept a high but steady pace on the long hot climbs and picked his way carefully down the treacherous descents. However a puncture at the end of the third lap cost him dear and although it was fixed and he was away again inside 3 minutes, the rhythm was lost and he was lapped close to the end of his fourth lap. It was however a fantastic result finishing 48th out of the field of 60 riders who had taken to the start line, nearly all of whom were world class cyclists. He can now look forward to a good domestic season ahead in his first year as an Elite Mountain Bike racer.
The team have a busy schedule planned throughout March including trips to Ireland, Surrey and Oxfordshire before the season gets into full swing with round 1 of the National series on 12th April at Thetford in Norfolk.
For more information on the the Sunshine Cup Race Series and the equipment used by the Monkey’s please take a look at the following websites.