Sunshine Cup Round 3 - Amathous, Cyprus

After having problems throughout the first two races the team were almost back to normal for the final round of the Sunshine Cup in Amathous near Limassol.

The race was set on an archaeological site right next to the sea and actually dropped onto the boardwalk over the sea during the short lap. The course was very rocky with some short sharp climbs and fast sketchy descents which was enough to keep even the best riders in the world on there toes!

After struggling with a knee injury all week Ben was less than optimistic going into the first race of the day but after a slow start gradually worked his way up to the head of the race. Suddenly he found himself in contention though and grew stronger as the race progressed before eventually pushing his way into the top three. In the final kilometres Ben was pushing second place and finished just 15 seconds adrift with an outstanding performance giving him and the team their first podium of the series! It was just reward for our star Junior rider after some bad luck in the build up to the race.

The Elite race was to be a fast hot dusty affair with 80 riders raring to tear up the tarmac on the opening start loop which dropped onto the main road along the sea front for a short period. As with Bens race it was to be a slow start for both Chris and Paul as the large field bunched up in the singletrack climb and reduced to walking pace as the first lap became a procession with riders jostling for position before eventually being strung out. Both riders were close together and whilst the guys ahead were dropping like flies from punctures, heat exhaustion and crashes the two Monkey’s slowly made headway through a congested field. Chris finished the race after four hard laps in 48th position with Paul not far behind in 53rd. It was a good effort by both riders in a quality field of athletes. The race was won comfortably by an in form Jaroslav Kulvahy.

In the final race Lee Williams of Wiggle managed a creditable 32nd position while Anthony Morris took advantage of a mistake being entered into Elite for some extra training and finished 64th. Sue Clarke got 9th on the day but finished a superb 4th overall in the series.

It was a fantastic end to the series with a buffet and music making for a wonderful atmosphere in an idyllic location on the seafront.

Once again the Sunshine Cup has been a fantastic experience for the team and we would like to thank all of our sponsors, our equipment was faultless and our Cannondale Scalpels very much appreciated on the final rocky course in Amathous.

We would also like to thank Sue Clarke (Our fellow Cannondale rider), Lee Williams & Anthony Morris for their fantastic company and to the series organiser Mike and his crew at MTBCyprus.com for a wonderful series.

Its back to the cold…. Until next year!