Jack shares this latest report from the Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cycle Race Team. Ed
South and South West Regional Championships
The South and South West Regional Championships is one of the biggest events on the domestic road cycling calendar.
Uniting riders from Elite level to third category and from Cornwall to the Cotswolds and across to Surrey.
A full field of eighty racers signed on for the 85-mile event, on the tough circuit around the village of Owlesbury near Winchester on Sunday 20th August.
Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cycle Race Team fielded a contrast of riders in Joe Staunton and Kieran Page.
Road man
Staunton has recently triggered his conversion from Island Games level triathlete to pure road man and this top level race was only his second road race outing.
Page hadn’t pinned a number onto his road cycling jersey since the Isle of Wight edition of the Island Games in 2011.
With such limited recent racing time, both riders were fully aware that against a field of seasoned and ex-professional riders they were facing a very tough challenge.
Making use of his years of racing experience Page encouraged Staunton to get to the front of the field and try to stay there for as long as possible.
Fought tooth and nail
Staunton did a sterling job of this and fought tooth and nail to hold his position, filling gaps in the peloton to maintain his position.
The 25 mile per hour average speed on a very undulating circuit, along with several of the climbs exposed to merciless crosswinds, eventually got the better of Staunton.
Participating in such an event has given him a cornerstone from which he can hope to build a promising racing future.
Absence problematic
Page was involved in the racing until the field split into tiny groups from the pressure applied by the top seed riders.
His lack of top end speed, after such a long period without racing, was inevitably going to be problematic. And so it proved, as the front of the race continued without him.
Image: © Wightlink Wight-Mountain Cycle Race Team
