Bowditch leads sprint to second

ANN BOWDITCH was part of the ScienceinSport.com women's trio which came a brilliant second in the National Team Time Trial held in Neath, South Wales over 25 miles. It was the first time that Bowditch and her teammates, Helen Carter and Lesley Walking, had competed together in such an event, so it was an unknown quantity for them despite being evenly match in ability.

The first half of the course was dual carriageway and at the halfway point riders turned onto rolling back roads.

There was doubt as to whether the event would take place following cancellation of a number of races in the UK due to torrential rain and Neath was no exception.

Following a wet weekend, there was a torrential downpour as the three riders set off on the four-mile journey to the start.

'This was the first chance we had had to practise riding together but we had to manoeuvre around cones as there were road works on that part of the road which made it a bit more tricky,' said Bowditch.

The riders had agreed on a formation to which they stuck for the whole race.

At times, Walking and Bowditch eased up for Carter who was struggling with the acceleration required in such an event.

'I have experience of road racing and Lesley is used to time trialling with men, so we both had an advantage in knowing how to gauge the acceleration, this was more difficult for Helen.

'Although Helen was dropped on a few occasions she always did her turn on the front and was strong,' Bowditch added.

Being the smallest of the riders, the Sarnian was benefiting from the drafting effect and always looked strong when doing her turn on the front.

As the riders approached the finish, Bowditch led them out as they sprinted to the chequered flag to complete the course in a time of 1hr 0min. 28sec.

Back at headquarters, the ScienceinSport.com riders were elated with their result.

They were the second placed women's team, only defeated by Great Britain's best.

Bowditch and team had beaten both the GB second team and GB junior team, all professional riders.

'I was pleased we sprinted for the line as we beat the GB second team by a second,' she said.

'At first I didn't think we had performed that well due to having to ease off on a number of occasions causing us to lose the fluidity.

'We all feel we can work at riding as a team and make some useful improvements. I think we could make about two minutes if we can just get the chance to practise as a team.

'It was a really great experience and we got the best result we could hope for on the day.'