Sarnians’ matching times
THREE days of growing fatigue did not prevent Jack English from achieving another impressive result on Easter Sunday.
In the penultimate race of the Easter ‘Zwiftival’ and after winning the previous day’s Innsbruckring event, English was sixth overall and top Guernsey man in the 3R Figure 8 Hilly Race Watopia.
His top Sarnian billing came at the expense of former professional James McLaughlin – but only just.
McLaughlin snagged eighth and shared the same 37min. 42sec. time in a 29k race that, as is often the case with virtual racing, concluded with a fierce sprint.
Two major climbs had earlier tested the resolve of the large and internationally flavoured Category A bunch.
Climb one at around 8k snapped the elastic of the pack and the follow-up ascent at 21k proved significant in elevating the top two Guernsey men above their colleagues. Just under a minute adrift of the Sarnian duo, Marc Cox scraped into the top-10 ZwiftPower placings.
‘I was really feeling fatigued from the races the previous days,’ said English.
‘I just managed to hang on on the first climb and felt a little bit better for the second climb. I comfortably got over the climb in the group and it came down to a sprint that was slightly downhill and I’m quite a light rider... I could not manage the same power output as the bigger guys.’
Danielle Hanley took top Guernsey woman from Maddie Wilson.
English yesterday confirmed his receipt of the ‘Zwiftival’ title with a strong performance on the London International course.
