VETERAN Team Enable-Townsend Vehicle Hire-MI Racing cyclist Rob O’Connor won the over-65 British Cycling Open Masters National Road Race Championships in Devon.
O’Connor, riding for Coventry-based Team Enable, won the open 65 to 69-years-old race.
He conquered the hilly 60-mile route competing against some of the best riders from across the United Kingdom.
O’Connor’s hard work in training paid off and he has already claimed two silver medals at the National Championships earlier this year competing in shorter circuit race disciplines.
The race played out perfectly for O’Connor who was strongest on the climbs and then waited patiently for the sprint finish.
He opened up a 30-metre lead early in the final 200-metre sprint and remained ahead of the bunch to the finish line.
O’Connor took gold and the coveted red, white and blue jersey along with the other national champions of various cycling disciplines.
He finished ahead of Bath’s Llewelyn Jones in second and Wrexham’s Nick Giles in third.
And O’Connor will also receive an invite to the prestigious British Cycling awards dinner held in Birmingham in January next year.
Elsewhere, Team Enable’s riders continued to dominate the local TT scene as Nuneaton’s David Mead claimed a 10th straight open TT victory.
Mead won in a time of 19 minutes and 23 seconds and was the only rider to break the 20-minute barrier in the Coventry Cycling Club event held on the K11/10T course between Rugby and Coventry.
In the same event, Mark Wise finished ninth (21 mins 48 secs) with Andy Jackson 23rd (23 mins 17 secs), Tom Bradley 24th (23 mins 18 secs), Greg Ashley 28th (24 mins 9 secs) and Zoe Shepherd 46th (26 mins 15 secs).
And the combined times of Mead, Wise and Jackson saw Team Enable win the team prize.
Team Enable’s top female rider Diana Egerton-Warburton took part in the Road and Time Trial Council (RTTC) closed circuit 10-mile Time Trial Championships.
Egerton-Warburton finished seventh overall and won the veteran 45 to 49 age group title by more than 26 seconds from the second placed rider.
The team’s top road racers were also in action as Oliver Searle finished second in the Royal Leamington Spa Cycling Club road race.
A broken spoke and rubbing wheel put pay to his challenge for victory as he attempted to catch the leader on the last lap.
And Jack O’Neill raced in the West Midlands Road Race Championships and finished the 135km course in 41st place.
Elsewhere, a number of Team Enable riders competed in the Marston Mega Cross event held on the 6.2km circuit near Marston Trussell in Leicestershire.
Riders battled it out for over three hours across varied terrain either as a relay pair or as solo riders. Many riders used the event as training for the upcoming cyclo-cross season.
Team Enable’s Nick Popham and his relay partners finished 12th after completing 12 laps of the course in 3 hrs 16 mins.
The relay partnership of Ray Cochrane and Richard Perham finished 114th and completed 10 laps in 3 hrs 20 mins while the mixed relay team of Zoe Shepherd and Greg Ashley finished 193rd and completed eight laps in 3 hrs 24 mins.
The team’s best solo finish saw Tom Bradley complete 10 laps in 3 hrs 33 mins to come home in 144th place with Andy Jackson 155th after completing nine laps in 3 hrs 19 mins.
