08/07/2026
Late spring and early summer racing round-up (Apr-June)
Late spring and early summer have been packed with racing, progress and plenty of lessons along the way. Following on from the winter and early spring round-up, I wanted to share some of the standout performances from the athletes I coach across time trials, road racing, criteriums and triathlon.
Time Trials
Everyone I coach trains hard, but life can get in the way. It is not always possible to complete every session exactly as planned or hit every interval perfectly. That is why Andrew Merchant has impressed me so much over the past few months. His consistency has been outstanding, and his results speak for themselves: several PBs across various distances, starting with a PB on his local club TT course in April. Since then he has added several more course PBs, with the standout ride coming in the ECCA 25 on the E6, where he went three minutes faster than the previous year. That is a massive increase in performance.
I put this down to two things. Firstly, Andy follows his training to the T, meticulously sticking to the plan with the best consistency I’ve seen. He just gets on with it and although I know he doesn’t like some of what I tell him to do, he still does it.
And secondly, he has started doing some off the bike strength work. He pushed back originally but I think he’s got into the groove and it’s starting to pay off. I think there is more to come from Andy as we head into the rest of the season.
David Carey is another rider who has been super consistent with his training and has started to come into good form. By his own admission, he was probably a little slow to get going back in April and May, but a few changes to the TT bike setup, made after studying some photos, have helped him realise the benefits of all the training. The power was there in training, but it just wasn’t coming through in some of the results. As a coach, it is so pleasing to see someone so diligent with their training start to see the fruits of their labour. That culminated in a recent PB on his local Maldon 10 course, where he was also first placed rider. I’m now expecting some even bigger results in the upcoming TTs.
Louise Robinson has consistently set a very high bar over the years, which means that with each passing season it becomes harder to maintain that level, let alone exceed it. I know Louise has been disappointed with some performances, particularly the National Circuit Champs, where she was hoping to make the podium. However, she has dusted herself off and continued to crack on. She won the ECCA 25 Champs in 57:38, then two weeks later finished 2nd in another ECCA 25 open race with 57:03 and a few more watts.
Recognising this we have narrowed the focus around some areas of the training to try and elevate her power and I think it’s showing positive signs.
Louise now has her sights set on the ECCA 10 champs this weekend. With the Essex TT champs and national 25 following closely. Watch this space.
This is the first year I’ve been coaching Marc Brant and like his dad he has a tenacious appetite to train – he’s a willing athlete who will train hard at every opportunity — the challenge has been channelling that appetite rather than restraining it.
Marc’s time trial progress has been solid, with several very good club 10 TTs under his belt. I think his standout ride was in the Leo 30 up near Newmarket. This was a course PB on freshly chipped road surface. All this came even though Marc’s bigger goal is a half Ironman later in the year, meaning a lot of time has been spent away from the bike in the pool and on his feet running.
Some of the key areas of focus for Marc have been nutrition, fuelling his efforts and pacing. A lot of my messaging to him has been about controlling efforts, particularly in longer TTs. When someone trains as hard as Marc, the thing I look for most is fatigue management: is he absorbing the load, and if not, how do we adjust the schedule accordingly?
Marc has massive potential and I look forward to seeing how the rest of his season plays out.
The standout story for Lisa Hurrell has to be the progression we’ve seen in the club 10 TTs. Her times have gradually fallen since the beginning of April, from an early-season 29:01 down to 27:32 at the end of June. By any measure, that is a big improvement. It has come from an increase in power, but also from how that power is delivered across the ride by reducing the moments I call “slack chain”. In a 10-mile TT there is no time to come off the gas, and that has been the overriding coaching message here.
The goal now is to go under 27 minutes which on a road bike will be challenge but I’m confident Lisa can do it.
Lastly on the time trial front, Phil Brant has had what can only be described as a tough few months. His early season was derailed by a bad crash in the Maldon 50 TT, where he broke his collarbone, shoulder and several ribs. But you can’t keep a good man down. Phil’s desire to get back to it should be a lesson to everyone. After just under two weeks of recovery, he was back on the trainer doing gentle work on the turbo, and a further two weeks later he was back into structured training. I’m pleased to say he is almost back to his pre-crash level, and I know he is itching to pin a number on again.
Road and Criteriums
If there were an award for number of races completed and consistency of results so far, Chris Dunn would be right at the front of the queue. He is another rider who takes his training and racing seriously, and he has reaped what he has sown over the past several months. His results speak for themselves, with numerous podiums and most recently 2nd place in the BMCR National Road Champs, where he set his best normalised power over a typical race duration of around two hours.
Leading into this I’ve seen Chris’s power steadily increase. From the beginning of April his average normalised power from races has gone up by over 10%.
The training has been going well and so this increase in performance isn’t a total surprise to me.
Chris is currently ranked 2nd in the Stallard series only 2 points off top spot with two races left to go.
This level of consistency is what I think most amateur racers should be striving for, the ability to be competitive most weeks without falling apart after a few good races.
This is where making sure your intensity distribution is well balanced, ensuring you retain fitness but don’t go into races consistently fatigued. The other big one, making sure you get sufficient sleep.
Olly Curd's year has been headlined by a genuine breakthrough result: victory at the Jock Wadley Memorial in March and a National B win
However, after winning the Jock Wadley, Olly has struggled with some consistency not helped by illness which did take some shine of his form. By his own admission he didn’t have the best legs at either Kennel Hill or the Wally Gimber. Although he did place 5th at the Andrews Trophy winning the bunch sprint with 4 riders up the road.
That said at the end of April he did the Cicle Classic and despite crashing and damaging a shifter he managed a very respectable 22nd place. To even finish this race is an achievement.
But I think Olly’s biggest achievement this year was his performance in the 71st Rás Tailteann which took place at the end of May in Ireland. This was Olly’s first ever stage race and let’s just say the weeks leading into this were probably not ideal, however here is a brief breakdown of how the stages played out and where Olly finished on each stage and his overall GC position.
Stage 1 — Portlaoise to Kilmallock, 161.6km: 6th, in the group sprint behind winner Rowan Baker's four-man breakaway. Finished at +46s on GC, right on the wheel of Tim Shoreman who won the bunch gallop for 5th.
Stage 2 — Rathmore to Banteer, 184.7km (Caha Pass, Coughane Gap): the hard mountain stage. By his own account he "felt so good" but got caught following the wrong move on the penultimate climb and unfortunately lost time here.
Stage 3 — Mitchelstown to Enniscorthy, 155.6km: rode safely in the main group, GC deficit held steady at +3:51.
Stage 4 — Carlow to Baltinglass, 141.6km (the queen stage over the Wicklow Gap, which decided the overall race): his strongest day physically — a personal 2nd-all-time power output for a 15-minute effort, climbing well throughout. A team-tactical mix-up in the closing 25km (holding position rather than helping chase) meant it didn't convert into more time gained.
Stage 5 — Carlow to Dunboyne, 141km, bunch sprint finish: 7th place.
Final GC: 19th overall — described afterwards by The British Continental as "a strong, if under the radar, performance that demonstrates his form," noting he finished the two hilly stages strongly before sprinting to 7th on the final day.
So, despite the various bouts of illness and some compromised recovery Olly has shown he can mix it at the highest level on the domestic racing scene.
Will Barham has seen a genuine increase in physical performance this year— his power across various durations has improved and he's probably putting out his best numbers yet. He hasn't raced a huge amount due to finishing his degree and then lately starting full-time work, but the results he has had have been solid.
In April he raced the Sherpa Spring Stage Race and managed 5th overall on GC, finishing only 16 seconds down on the eventual winner.
I think his standout performance over this period though was in the BUCS RR where he managed 9th place. A very hot race but nevertheless he got stuck in making the break but not having much left for the final sprint.
The challenge for Will now is shifting from student life into full-time work. That is a big change, but if he can keep building good habits around training, recovery and consistency, I think there is still plenty more to come.
Focusing purely on the crit scene Chad King has shown some fine form of late, despite having to balance his desire to train and race with short notice changes in working patterns, often with the need to travel. Chad races out in LA for Team Endure and his best result to date (own words) was back in May when he won the bunch sprint in a 2/3 race. Chad has another big race planned this month so fingers crossed for another podium.
Charlie showed excellent race speed in the Sherpa Stage Race when he placed 2nd in the time trial stage, less than a second from taking the win. He then carried this form into May with an impressively strong ride in the GA Bennett. This was a super-hot day against a top-quality field of riders. Charlie managed to bridge across with two other riders to an already established break, which became the final move of the day. He finished strongly in 7th place. A top 10 at this race, on a day when only 26 riders finished from a starting field of 60-plus, shows great resilience.
Less than a week later he was taking part in the regional champs up near Ipswich and again showed very strong form with a solid 8th place. Like the GA Bennett this was a very attritional race with only 14 riders finishing.
Not a road race or a crit but Charlie also took part in the Gralloch, this was his first proper gravel race and managed 13th on a very tough course. By his own admission he lost time on some of the faster descents but was leaving riders behind on the climbs. Not a bad first crack at what is regarded as one of the toughest gravel races in the UK.
Triathlon
As mentioned, Marc Brant has been racing both TT’s but also has a bigger goal of the Weymouth Half Ironman in August. As a build up to this Marc has completed both the Hanningfield Triathlon where he came 7th in his age category and set the 4th fastest bike split. And most recently the Southend Triathlon where he came 5th in his age group again setting a very fast time on the bike with 2nd fastest on the day.
It’s clear that the swim and run are where time needs to be spent and I’ve seen his speed in the pool gradually improving and similarly the run times are also coming down.
The key message to Marc however has been the need to fuel and hydrate all of this work he is doing. I used to make very similar mistakes when I started out and with all the science that is now out there it’s a game changer if you can get this right.
Finally, Camilla Wilkes completed her first full Ironman-distance event, and it was a genuinely outstanding day. She completed the 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run in 10:47, including a sub-four-hour marathon at the end. That is impressive in any context, but especially for someone completing the marathon distance for the first time. Many first-time Ironman athletes see the run fall apart late in the day; Camilla held it together superbly and produced a genuinely strong run split off the back of a 180km ride.
What makes this result even more remarkable is the context it was achieved in. A very stressful work period and interrupted sleep patterns and a general high level of stress. I think this illustrates that with a far less stressful lead in and with more time to focus on key sessions I think there is massive room for improvement on an already outstanding performance.
From a coaching perspective, the key was managing the training around genuine life stress. My overriding message was that I would rather she arrived slightly less fit than overly fatigued, so sessions and training loads were consistently managed and adapted. Fuelling was also something I had been asking Camilla to focus on in training, given the duration of the event. It takes time to train your system to tolerate and utilise fuel, and I feel this had a big part to play. We also had a clear race-day strategy for when and how much to fuel and hydrate, including carbs, electrolytes, sodium and plain water. In the end, it all paid off with 4th in her age group and a World Championship qualification spot at Kona later this year.
Across all of these performances, the common thread is not just fitness. It is consistency, patience, smart decision-making and the ability to adapt training around real life.
So, what are my three key takeaways from this period of racing and coaching? They all come back to one theme: recovery.
1. Rest and recovery are fundamental – proper consistent sleep patterns being the most obvious. Anything less than 7 hours and gains are being left on the table. For me 8 hours should be the target.
2. Effective fueling and hydration. This doesn’t just impact how well you perform in the moment but also helps accelerate your recovery between sessions.
3. Adjust your load and intensity of the training as is necessary, don’t underestimate the impact life stress can have on your ability to absorb physical stress from training.
Good luck to everyone for the remainder of the season.
Shaftesbury Cycling Club
Southend Wheelers
IRONMAN
Cycling Time Trials
British Cycling
Primo RT
British Masters Cycle Racing
