Ben Aims For A Career In Elite Cycling
Ben (Year 9) enjoyed two podium finishes in this weekend’s road cycling event in Flanders, Belgium. The 14-year old finished runner-up in his event on Saturday and winner on Sunday, before heading back to the UK in time for another week at Wilsthorpe School.
Ben’s gruelling training schedule combines ‘on bike’ training, which is a mix of turbo trainer (indoor bike) sessions, road rides and track sessions at Derby Velodrome. This is combined with a strength-and-conditioning programme, which Ben undertakes twice a week with the Derbyshire Institute Of Sport. All of this means that Ben trains 6 days a week and has to work hard to balance this with socialising and homework.
The first of Ben’s target events this year was the U14 National Cyclo-Cross Championships, held in January in South Shields, where Ben finished runner-up. Ben is now looking forward to the National Circuit Series Championships (road racing), held Scarborough in June and the National Omnium Championships (track cycling), held in London in July. Ben and his family covered over 10,000 miles travelling to races last year alone.
For most weekends throughout April, May and June, Ben has races on the road, track or off-road on a mountain bike. This coming Saturday sees Round 2 of the National Omnium Series (track cycling) in Wolverhampton on the outdoor velodrome.
Ben aspires to becoming a professional cyclist. To achieve this, results matter but so does building a European race CV, so his recent trip to Belgium contributed to this. The Flanders region of Belgium is a hotbed of competitive cycling, so his success there over the past few days bodes well for the future.
