Essex boy Alex Dowsett has beaten the one-hour cycling record in the Manchester Velodrome.
The Movistar Team rider made history with this achievement by covering 52.937km, which was even more impressive due to Alex having to make a quick recovery from a broken collarbone in February.
Writtle College’s Mark Walker was integral to this success and carefully constructed a training schedule to ensure Alex was at peak fitness for the attempt.
Mark, who is the Course Leader for the two-year foundation degree in Cycling Performance at Writtle, said: “What an amazing six days I spent in Manchester last week in the build-up to the hour record.
“The Movistar team were a pleasure to work with as we carried out the final preparations and testing for Alex Dowsett’s hour record attempt on Saturday 2nd May. These last few days were extremely exciting but also very tense as we waited to see the outcome of a very carefully planned taper and conducted a number of technical tests to determine the final race set-up.
“I didn’t get much of a chance to see Alex on his bike during the actual attempt as I had my head deep in a spreadsheet working out the pacing strategy and relaying messages to Alex’s friend Steve Collins who signalled accordingly.
“I feel enormously proud of Alex for achieving his dream of breaking such a prestigious record and it has been a real privilege to work with him and such a great team of people."
For more information about the FdSc Cycling Performance – which enables students to gain a qualification while pursuing their competitive or coaching ambitions - please visit www.writtle.ac.uk