Sunshine Cup Round 2 (Stage 1) - Macheras Mountains, Cyprus

After a reasonable set of results from the riders in round 1 of the Sunshine Cup, the focus now turned to the demanding stage race in the Macheras mountains. The format for the race was a one lap Time Trial of the XC course on Friday afternoon followed by a point to point marathon the day after and finally a Cross Country race on the Sunday followed by a huge barbeque… we were looking forward to that the most!

Help flew in on the Wednesday in the form of team manager Will along with Paul’s girlfriend to make sure the riders were fully looked after and could focus on the race in hand. Unfortunately preperation wasn’t going according to plan with all three riders having some midweek problems. Ben hurt his knee in round one last weekend, Paul had sever toothache that had initally started after landing the week before but was now getting worse and Chris had an upset stomach leaving him with little energy.

Thursday came and the riders went to the race venue for practice only to find it under water as a constant stream of heavy rain flooded the course leaving them to make the decision to pre-ride the course early morning. Friday and the day of the Time Trial – an all out effort over a tough course with three big descents and a lot of climbing! Ben was first off and put in a brave effort fighting the pain in his knee and finishing in a creditable 7th position amongst a strong field dominated by Russians. The rain continued to pour down as both Paul and Chris got ready for their race against the clock. Paul felt good and put in a faultless ride but having not slept much since arriving in Cyprus he suffered on the climbs and his time was not as good as he had hoped for. Chris suffered all the way round and put on a brave face as he tried his best with virtually no food inside him. Paul finished the stage in 67th with Chris in 75th.

It was a disastrous start for the two Elite riders with this race being there main focus all winter the disappointment was clear to see. It had been a tough first day in appalling conditions. Rest, food and sleep and tommorrow may be better!

There were some outstanding results from our training partners with Lee Williams getting 10th in the Elite Mens beating World marathon Champion Roel Paulisson, National Champ Sue Clarke took 6th place in the Elite Women and Anthony Morris took a great 2nd place in the Masters.

Sunshine Cup Round 2 (Stage 2) - Macheras Mountains, Cyprus

With no better news overnight Chris took the bold decision to pull out of the stage race and try to recover so he could continue to train for the final race in Amathous next week. Ben started the slightly shorter course at the earlier time of 9.30am and was quick to get in amongst the leaders and put the pain of his knee to one side.

The course took in some long fire road climbs before eventually getting onto some tough singletrack climbing and then a knarly descent down onto the cross country course and back to the arena, it was a tough but challenging course and although it was no longer raining the weather was certainly not sunny and the thunder storm the night before had left plenty of water on the ground.

Ben put in a really solid performance and was just seeconds away from placing as high as fourth position. For Paul the toothache and lack of sleep had finally taken its toll and he just couldn’t get up to speed and eventually blew his doors coming home near the back extremely frustrated with the performance.

Sue had a great ride to 4th position in a top quality womens field, Anthony finished 2nd to cment his place in the overall and Lee stormed to 25th in a apcked mens field.

Sunshine Cup Round 2 (Stage 3) - Macheras Mountains, Cyprus

The final stage of the race was a Cross Country race and it was now left to Ben to fly the Monkey flag with both Chris and Paul not taking to the start line. Chris still had the stomach problem and paul had now had to go to hospital for a pain killing injection two nights in a row leaving him shattered and unable to race. It was immense disappointment and frustration for the two riders who have trained all winter with these races in mind.

Ben was still feeling some discomfort from his knee although that soon went out of his mind as the gun went and started a cold wet race around the tough circuit. As the rain lashed down ben started to feel the pain and began to drop back in the opening laps but with riders dropping like flies in the tough conditions, Ben showed great character picking off riders and moving back up through the field to finish in an excellent 8th position.

Sue, Lee and Anthony continued there impressive form with 4th, 16th and 2nd respectively.

Sunshine Cup Round 2 (Overall) - Macheras Mountains, Cyprus

For the two Elite riders it was a disappointing three days after such optimism in the build up to the race but for Ben there was reason to be pleased after showing tremedous character to fight his way through three tough days and come out with a 5th place finish overall.

Sue battled hard in the final stage and took 5th position overall narrowly missing out on 4th, Anthony was consistent throughout and took 2nd in Masters but Lee showed the class that will surely springboard him into the very top few riders in the UK with a 16th position overall in a field full of International star riders. The riders will now take some rest and then begin preperations for the final race of the series in Amathous next weekend.