Pete Turnbull - British Marathon Racing's Top Vet!

 

Report Posted: 12 October 2007

 

The Trek British Marathon Championships at Coed-y-Brenin (23 September) marked the end of a long and successful season of racing for Pete Turnbull of Gateway RT, who won the Vets' 100km title. Following wins in the previous three rounds of the Trek Marathon Series, Turnbull rounded off his season with an impressive win in the inaugural Vets' 100km Championship race. While his season ended in the mud and rain of a north Wales forest, it began back in the baking heat and desert areas of South Africa.

After a long winter's training in the hills around Abergavenny, with the emphasis very much on building a strong foundation for the year ahead, Turnbull headed off to South Africa with his race partner Jon Stenson (Red Kite Cycles) to compete in the ABSA Cape Epic, the biggest multi-stage mountain bike event in the world. The eight day race covers almost 900km and the riders climb the equivalent of Mount Everest twice as they ride through some of the most spectacular terrain that South Africa has to offer. As the race progressed, the Anglo-Welsh pair moved steadily through the field, finishing as the top placed British team in 43rd.

Turnbull (left) and Stenson (right) cross the finish line at the ABSA Cape Epic

Returning to the UK just days before the first of the Trek British Marathon Series in Thetford, Turnbull decided to skip Round 1 and focus his racing on the remaining four races. Round 2 at Sherwood Pines proved to be a very close fought race, with Paul Ashby (Fat Birds CC), winner of the first Round at Thetford, taking an early lead in the mud and rain. Riding on home ground, Michael Powell (Sherwood Pines Cycles) stuck to Turnbull's wheel for the first five laps before launching a sustained attack on lap six. This pulled the pair back to Ashby, who was now struggling to maintain his early pace, and this provided all the incentive that Turnbull needed to attack on lap seven. Consolidating his lead on the final lap, Turnbull took a well earned victory by just under 2 minutes from Powell and Ashby.

Round 3 at Margam Park offered a very different challenge to the riders, with long steep, rocky climbs in marked contrast to the relatively flat winding single-track of Thetford and Sherwood Pines. This suited Turnbull, who led the vets race from the gun. Accumulating an impressive time gap on each successive lap, the Welsh rider came home more than 18 minutes ahead of his nearest rival.

While the big climbs at Margam suited Turnbull, the technical single-track at Newnham Park (Round 4) was more to Michael Powell's liking. In a replica of Round 2 at Sherwood Pines, the pair were "nip-and-tuck" for the first five laps. Powell then tried but failed to shake Turnbull off his wheel on lap six before the Welsh rider pulled away on the final two laps to win by almost 3 minutes.

Coed-y-Brenin was a tough test, even for Pete

 

Knowing that Coed-y-Brenin would be more akin to Margam Park, Turnbull focused on hill training in the intervening weeks before the National Championship race, under the careful guidance of his coach George Rose (University of Wales, Newport). Round 5 proved to be an extremely testing race for both body and bike - only 16 of 59 entrants in the men's 100km event completed the Coed-y-Brenin course and only 4 of more than 20 vets completed the full eight laps.

All smiles for the winner of the inaugural British Vets Marathon Championship

Turnbull set the early pace but crashed on the first downhill section of lap 1, leaving him with a deep cut above his right eye and a badly bruised right arm. Michael Powell took the lead but suffered a puncture towards the end of lap one, leaving Turnbull, Ed Nicoll (Science In Sport) and Gavin Rumbles (Trek Volkswagen) at the head of the field. Nicoll established a lead of 30 seconds by the end of lap two and increased the gap to 1 minute 30 seconds by the end of lap three, but was then caught by Turnbull and Rumbles on lap four.

 

At the halfway stage, only seconds separated the leading riders, but Turnbull attacked the climbs on lap five and built a 2 minute lead over Rumbles. Winter miles and intense hill sessions started to pay dividends over the final laps as Turnbull accumulated more time over his rivals, eventually winning the race by 13 minutes to take the National jersey and series title. It was a great end to a superb season and reward for a lot of hard work.

 

Photos: with thanks to Joolze Dymond