Saucony 10k at the TCR show

I've been making the TCR show 10k an annual excursion for the last 4 years both as an opportunity to say hello to the Torq crew but also because it's a really unique course with a great mix of terrain. I'm happy to say 2011 saw my best performance to date with an easy 2nd, just 11 seconds behind 1st and a time of of 32 minutes and 49 seconds.

So how did it all pan out? The field of 250 set off on a 2 lap heavily undulating course around the Sandown park race course and the field quickly settled down with Ironman pro Stephen Bayliss taking an early lead. I clung onto Stephen for pretty much the entire run conceding up to 20 seconds half way round and managing to bring this deficit down to 11 seconds at the end of the race. The race behind us seemed to be over by about 4 or 5k with nobody else managing to get close to 32 minutes.

Big names squashed by the power of the pre-race Torq Banoffe gel (!) were Ironman pros Phil Graves (34.18) and Dion Harrison (36.01). I was also fuelled by Torq Energy and a Torq Apricot bar.....yum yum.

Many Thanks to all our sponsors this year including:

Frames: Merida: http://www.merida-bikes.com/
Wheels: Fast Forward: http://www.ffwdwheels.com/
Power: http://www.cycleops.com/
Cycle Shoes: http://www.lakecycling.co.uk/
Helmets: http://www.limarhelmets.com/
Aerobars: http://www.use1.com/
Wetsuits and compression: http://www.2xu.com/

All photos by Jolekha Shasha

1 - All smiles before the pain
2 - At the start of the 2nd lap
3 - Nice prize and shoes, courtesy of Saucony