RG Active Athlete gets 2 top Ten finishes at Nationals

26 Jul 2009 / Cycling

Hello everyone,

Just had to sit through a very difficult Hungarian Grand Prix where Jenson did well to get a car that was obviously under preforming to a points finish and ‘damage limitation’ in his Championship challenge.

Lets hope that the mid season break gives everyone and rest and the season re-start gives BrawnGP the performance they started the season with. Jenson will be attending the London Triathlon next weekend so he can have a good race there and then a good mid-season break, before the final 8 races to finish the F1 season!

And speaking of Championships, RG Active have recently started sponsoring cyclist Alan Ephgrave. We met Alan in Richmond Park where you will see him riding almost everyday of the week. Alan stands out for a number of reasons:

- He is always in the Park and always riding in the same direction.

- He only has ONE leg

- He never wears his helmet (and I have told him off about this!!!!!)

- And now, he wears the RG Active Cycle Kit that looks fantastic!!!!!!

Yes, I did say Alan has one leg. Alan is a full leg amputie. He lost his leg in a cycling accident 8 years ago, but that didn’t stop he doing what he loves and riding his bike!

Last weekend Alan took part in the National Disability road Race and Time Trial and raced his first event under his new team ‘RG Active Race Team’ and performed fantastically well. The disability races have handicaps of all sorts competing and the organisers have to handicap the race to allow for different levels of disability.

Alan is the only full leg amputie in the Championship event and as a full leg amputie does have a large disadvantage to all other handicaps as he cannot get out of the saddle, starting is difficult (and they didn’t allow rolling starts this year) and these things in mind, his 2 top Ten finishes are fantastic. We can only imagine how difficult it is to ride with one leg, as many of us couldn’t ride with Alan and we have two legs!!!!!!

Below are the result, a picture of Alan in action and the brief race report from the National Championship races.

National Disability Circuit and Time Trial Championships

An impressive field of 29 paracylists entered the 2009 National Disability Circuit Championships which saw handcycles racing alongside regular bikes and a tandem for one of two coveted National Champion Jerseys. Fourteen two wheelers and fifteen handcyclists had registered for the race, including the current double Handcycling World Champion and Paralympic Women’s time trial Gold medallist from Beijing, Rachel Morris and Wales’ National Pursuit Champion Russ White who you will normally see attacking in able bodied races.

In the days leading up to the event, Kent experienced some inclement weather but on race day the weather had thankfully cleared up and the sun was shining, though there was a strong wind blowing across the purpose-built racing circuit, which is situated near the south Kent coast. Having created a series of ‘factors’ for the various disability divisions, the competitors gathered on the start line.

Road Race Results – Paracycles

1 Russ White
2 Tim Challinor
3 Shaun McKeown
4 Michael Renison
5 Colin Lynch
6 Alistair McKeen
7 Dominc Hurley
8 Terry Byrne
9 Daniel Weston/Patrick Weston
10 Alan Ephgrave – RG Active Race Team

Sunday 19th July – Time Trial Championship

Many of the riders who competed in the Circuit Championship race also entered the National Time Trial Championships the following day in Harrietsham near Maidstone. An early start to beat the morning traffic saw riders begin arriving at race HQ just after 6am to be greeted by a glorious sunny, and seemingly still day.

The course was an undulating 25km out and back loop which would put the cyclists to test against the clock. Another 1000 euros prize fund was available for both handcyclists and paracyclists, but it was the red, white and blue jersey that the riders were pushing themselves to win.

Time Trial Results – Paracycles

1 Russ White
2 Iain Dawson / Bobby De’ath
3 Tim Challinor
4 Shaun McKeown
5 Colin Lynch
6 Michael Rennison
7 Terry Byrne
8 Dominic Hurley
9 Alan Ephgrave – RG Active Race Team
10 Daniel Weston / Patrick Weston
11 Alan Davy

I hope you all enjoyed reading this race report and blog entry, if you are ever in Richmond Park before lunch, make sure you say hello to Alan, he is a bit of a celebrity!

We will be following Alan’s racing and I will be back online again soon with news about RG Active’s Stand at the London triathlon and the other exciting news going on in the World of RG Active!

Speak soon,
John

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