Junior (17-19yrs) European Cup race, part of junior European series

On May 10, Anthony, Luke and I headed across the channel to Vierzon to compete in our 2nd European Cup race of the season. This was the European qualifier for Great Britain and had a very high quality field so it was a great opportunity to test ourselves.

The swim was down a fast flowing river, which meant the top guys were exiting in just over 8 minutes for 750m. Luke was the fastest out of the 3 of us but narrowly missed the front bike pack. After an intense effort Anthony and I caught the second group. The two of us worked well together on the last lap and made our way to the front of the pack for the dismount. Disaster for Luke however, who’s saddle had fallen off which meant game over.

We both had solid runs and I actually enjoyed the 10% hill, showing all those weighted vests reps in training paid off! Coming onto the second lap James informed I’d picked up a time penalty, which set me back about 15 seconds (which felt like 5 minutes) and pushed me outside the top 20. Note to self: put your helmet in the box!

I finished 26th and Anthony 36th out of 69 competitors… now bring on Blenheim!

By Rory Atkins.