November 2009

Melton Olympics Bex Rimmington and Lora Turnham represented Great Britain at the World Para-cycling Championships in Manchester over the weekend. To start their campaign the tandem pair competed as a last minute entry in the 1-kilometer time trial, they posted another fantastic time of 1.12.875 taking half second off what they posted 2-weeks ago. Waiting anxiously their time was good enough to secure fourth place, with the Americans posting a time of 1.12.222 for silver and the Germans 1.12.475. Paralympic and reigning World Champions Ellen Hunter and Aileen McGlynn retained their title in a world record time of 1.09.054.

The next day it was Bex and Lora's main the focus the 3km pursuit. Drawing the first heat against the Germans, the German pairing set off at a fast pace over the first kilometre, however at half way the two teams had drawn even and the British pair had them in the same straight coming into the final lap. Bex and Lora posted a time of 3.39.560, which in their first pursuit on the track was only 3-seconds off the World record. The girls had to once again sit and wait for the other teams to post their times, however frustratingly the Irish and American teams both dipped under their time by a few tenths with times of 3.39.111 and 3.39.385 respectively. With just the reigning World and Paralympic champions of Hunter and McGlynn to go, Bex and Lora had to wait to find out if they would be in the final ride off for the bronze. Hunter and McGlynn set off under world record pace, however by 3km they had faded and only posted a time of 3.40.464. This meant that Bex and Lora would be competing against the British pair for the bronze medal.

In the final however, Hunter and McGlynn had to pull out all the stops by trying to go for the catch in the first kilometre which would give them an instant win. However Bex and Lora remained complete composure and squeezed on under the instructions of the coach meaning that the other British pair never achieved the catch. Coming into the final kilometre, whilst Hunter and McGlynn were fading, Bex and Lora had remained consistent and were coming back, however it was slightly too much and the experience of the other Brits came through as they took the bronze medal in 3.38.196 to Bex and Lora's 3.42.293. In the gold silver ride off USA broke the world record against the Irish pair in the final.

Bex commented, "We rode our socks off these last 2-days and gave everything we could have. It was our first track competition and this time we were beaten by three better pairings on the day, and although 4th is the hardest place to finish we did some awesome times. We'll be sitting down with our coach in the next couple of weeks to discuss our plan of action for next year, but we've got some time off the bike for a couple of weeks now before all the hard work starts for next year with points counting towards London 2012".

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November 2009