Palmares (or Racing History)

In the About Us section of the website I briefly touch on some of my cycling and racing experiences.

Although having a successful riding and racing career is not the only useful qualification for being a bike fitter (and some Professional athletes have some of the worst bike set-up, training and nutritional programmes around) it can be reassuring to some customers to know that their Bike Fitter has first hand experience of the type of activity they want to be optimised for.

Here I share in more detail some of my more memorable cycling experiences and race successes. I've highlighted the most meaningful race results in yellow.

Results

1998 - 50 mile Time Trial PB: 2:06 (Never ridden another one!)

1999 - 100 mile 4:40 (as above and rode 14 miles there and 14 miles back. Raced on water, in a Camelback).

2001 - 2nd overall in the ZipVit 3rd and 4th Cat Road Race Series.

2003 - 13th overall in the Rudy Project Hilly Time Trial Series.

2005 - Auckland Half Marathon: 1:28:something.

2005 - Taupo Half Ironman: 62nd Overall in 4:52:58.

2006 - Xterra New Zealand: 1st in Mens 25-29 Age Group, 22nd Overall in 2:56:58 (First Age group win. Of two!).

2006 - Rotorua Half Ironman: 12th Male Overall in 4:48:31.

2006 - Xterra World Championships, Hawaii: 12 in Mens 30-34 Age Group, 96th Overall in 3:31:33 (Dehydrated and Puncture).

2007 - Auckland Half Ironman: 6th Overall Male in 4:33:17 (Best swim performance).

2007 - Xterra New Zealand: 1st in Mens 30-34 Age Group, 12th Overall in 2:39:13 (Best overall race result).

2007 - Xterra Wales: 2nd in Mens 30-34 Age Group, 23rd Overall in 2:47:52.

2007 - Coventry Half Marathon: 46th Overall in PB of 1:25:13.

2008 - 5km run PB in 18:03.

2008 - Ballbuster Spring Duathlon: 23rd Overall in 3:05:07.

2008 - 10 Mile TT PB on K10/10 in 22:03.

2008 - Xterra Wales: 3rd in Mens 30-34 Age Group, 26th Overall in 3:29:05.

2013 - Xterra England: 2nd in Mens 30-34 Age Group, 34th Overall in 2:39:38.

2015 - Xterra New Zealand: 4th in Mens 35-39 Age Group, 35th Overall in 2:37:38.

2015 - Xterra Malaysia: 3rd in Mens 35-39 Age Group (Best Xterra course).

2015 - Shanghai Olympic Triathlon. 10th Overall. (5-lane wide roads closed for a Triathlon. Imagine that in the West!)

2015 - Beijing International Triathlon: 4th in Mens 35-39 Age Group, 7th Overall (Best run performance).

2017 - Snowman: 3rd in Mens Veteran Age Group, 17th Overall in 3:57:29 (Brief respite from Plantar Fasciitis).

2021 - 10 Mile TT PB in 21:47 on K11/10B.

2022 - Escape to Afan MTB Duathlon: 9th Overall in1:57:48.

2025 - Xterra Matterley MTB Duathlon: 8th in Mens 45-49 Age Group (Enjoyed the bike course so much I did an extra loop!)

2025 - Southam Sprint Triathlon: 7th Overall and 3rd Vet (The first time I've ever done the "triathlon in my backyard" and I was glad it was "only" a sprint when my calf re-tore 4km in to the run).

Joy

1998 - Lands End to John O’Groats (It rained until Scotland).

2002 - Cycle Touring in New Zealand and Tasmania (Living my best life).

2004 - Cycle Touring in Borneo, MTB-Bum in Fernie, BC, Marin County and Moab followed by Cycle Touring in New Zealand.

2005 - Xterra New Zealand: 14th in Mens 25-29 Age Group (First ever triathlon. Panic attack in the swim).

2014 - Challenge Laguna Phuket (Raced during a very dark time in my life with no training. Best road triathlon course. Sore neck).

2023 - Riding for Fun (yes, just fun) in Mallorca. This may be the future of cycling for me.

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

Pre-2007: Persistent Lung Infections when I was at my best.

2007 - Ironman New Zealand: 79th in Mens 30-34 Age Group in 11:29:03 (Was supposed to qualify for Kona. Walked a lot. Didn't).

2007 - Ballbuster Winter Duathlon (Turned my ankle after 300m and ran 16 and cycled 24 miles over Box Hill in considerable pain).

2015 - Xterra England (Seatpost snapped after 3km. Rode 27km standing up. It was the Euro Championships and I was expecting to podium. I didn’t).

2015 - Plantar Fasciitis (Ruined training and racing for many years. In 2023 it may finally have gone?)

2015 - Xterra World Championships: 35th in Mens 35-39 Age Group, 193rd Overall in 3:37:24 (Crashed on my MTB the day before and fractured my elbow. Finished just outside top half of age group. Realised that realigning goals in the face of adversity has its own rewards).

2017 - Slateman: 134th Overall in 3:06:40 (The coldest swim ever. And with no training, the hardest run. Made deals with myself: 20 running steps, then 20 walking ones. It gets you there. Slowly).

2017 - Faceplant: Things were going well. I was training for Xterra Poland. Until I ran in to a tree and needed 25 stitches to sew my face back together.

The Future

I'm not sure what the future holds, race wise. On the one hand I've really enjoyed making race plans, working hard and succeeding. On the other, its hard work and gets in the way of other things in life. Its also fair to say that other things can get in the way of training and racing as well. In the past it was mainly chest infections. Then depression and plantar fasciitis. Now old age seems to be catching up with niggling aches and pains stalling momentum and affecting motivation.

Two important things that I have learnt along the way that I will try and embody for the future are:

The best reason to train and race is because you enjoy doing it.
You can have a decent break (years even) and still get back to your near-best.

So my plan for the future is to run and ride as much as I can for fun, and if that fire for racing starts to burn again, then its only 12-weeks hard work, and possibly a new bike purchase to get back to in to good form!