AMBUSH AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP AS McNULTY TAKES RAINBOW JERSEY IN THRILLING BATTLE

 

WORLD’s top riders ambushed by USA  as their own Brendan McNulty escapes to land the biggest prize in cycling, the rainbow jersey of world professional road race champion.

In a stunning and nail-biting epic 280-kilometre race in Montreal in September,  “super domestique” McNulty and the USA  national team outwitted and outrode the super stars Evenpoele and Van der Poel and Matthews among them, to land the biggest prize in cycling.

It was a deserved victory for the 28-year-old noted more for his work as a domestique to Pogacar, but who can shine when he gets the chance, as he did earlier that week when finishing fourth in the world TT title race behind Remco Evenpoele.

So what happened in Montreal? The American journal Velo explained it thus:

This was “an emphatic Team USA victory” says VELO.

One which ended a 33-year wait for the USA, since Lance Armstrong won the title in Oslo, Norway, in 1993.

The USA had three potential winners, McNulty, Matteo  Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons. Whoever got the chance first would be backed by the rest of the team.

When McNulty shot clear with 32 km to go, Team USA’s tactics took care of anyone who gave chase.

Quinn Simmons marked most of the moves, including Matthieu van der Poel’s big move. As the other race favourites sprang to nail McNulty’s move, Jorgenson snuffed the life out of them.

Backing them up were Larry Warbass, Kevin Vermaerke, Riley Sheehand, Sean Quinn and Artem Schmidt.

Between them they smothered the opposition’s attempts to chase down their quarry.

The rest was down to McNulty known for his climbing strength and time trialling ability. He has won and been placed in many TTs, including the 3^rd  in the UCI Under-23 World’s in 2017, the year he turned pro and of course fourth the World’s TT title race earlier in the week.  He has many notable performances.

He turned pro 2017 and in 2019 scored his first pro win, the Giro di Sicilia. He was 15^th overall in his first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia in 2020, winning his first Grand Tour stage in the Giro in 2023. A snapshot of performances includes 1^st Ardeche Classic, 1^st Trofeo Calvia, 1st Tour of Poland, 1^st overall Cro Race, 1^st Tour of Luxembourg, and 3rd overall Paris –Nice.

Clearly he has always had the potential to expand on these successes. Instead he become established as a highly ranked lieutenant for Pogacar after first working for him in the 2022 Tour de France which Pogacar won, and he has fulfilled this role ever since limiting his own chances.

In fact it was in the 2022 Tour that McNulty famously “drove a pace that broke the entire lead GC group” – with the exception of Pogacar and his main rival, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard – taking third place behind the pair.

As a “super domestique” – perhaps the strongest in the sport -  McNulty has found fame late in  his career in the absence of  his UAE boss Pogacar, the defending world champion and Grand Tour and Classics wizard absent because of injury.

If Pog had ridden and the World’s been open to trade teams instead of nationals, there would very likely have been a very different outcome, as McNulty and others of his ilk would have been put to work in the usual pattern.

A major contribution to how the race shaped up was the banning of race radios in world championships.  This prevented managers in team cars dictating moves, leaving their riders to rely on instinct and initiative in reading the race and countering or launching attacks.

 The USA gambled and backed a winner.

The intriguing question now is how will team UAE work this one out. What will Pog himself make of this, as his butler steps up to dine at top table?  Will the new rainbow jersey still be required to bend the knee?  Pogacar, if he returns to top form, surely will not relinquish control.

In which case McNulty may find himself a new team to call his own.  Time to ride for himself.

Matthew Brennan - Britain's Vuelta sprint star

 

AN extraordinary Vuelta A’Espana won at last by three times runner-up Spain’s Enrico Mas on Sunday also launched a new British star onto the World Pro Tour scene.

 

This is Darlington’s Matthew Brennan, 21, winning five stages – three of them back to back -  in his Grand Tour debut with Visma-Lease-a-Bike, a record for one so young.

Matthew Brennan

With Oscar Onley finishing 6^th overall and best young rider, the pair are leading a new wave of British talent.

In fact on the very first stage time trial another talented Brit, Ethan Hayter almost took the first red jersey as leader until beaten by fractions of a second by World Champion Tadej Pogacar. who would crash out eight stages later.

Third was another home rider, Justin Tarling, riding to honour his late brother Finley, killed by a non-race vehicle during the Tour of Portugal, a tragedy that shook the sport. Justin retired a few days later.

 It should come as no surprise to learn that the famous Dave Rayner Fund charity had a hand in setting Onley and Brennan on their paths, although they are quick to point out that Brennan was only briefly in need of funding before being snapped up, as Joscelin Ryan of the Rayner Fund explained.

 “Yes in a kind of way he (Brennan) was (a Rayner rider)! It didn’t last long though, he was just too good!

“As a junior he was a member of Giles Pidcocks Fensham Howes Team and travelled to Europe with the team supported by the RF Gateway Scheme.

“When he turned Under 23 he applied to be funded to live abroad and we accepted him.

“But immediately he started his season in February he won two UCI races and it became obvious he was something special and started riding with the WT team more and more.

So support from RF became unnecessary and he graduated.

And now everyone knows how good he is.

“He is very good at returning support, for instance sending a jersey to the Dinner each year.”

 

(This year’s fund raising dinner, the biggest social do on the home calendar,  is on November 7 in Leeds – details below).

 Brennan showed early promise in winning Belgian classic Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2025.

Inevitably, he is being hailed as the new Mark Cavendish, the recently retired winner of a record 35 sprint stages of the Tour de France during his illustrious career. Cavendish’s first stage win came in 2008 when Brennan was three, and still riding in his pram. There is a difference between them, Brennan pointed out. He can hold his own in the mountains whereas Cav, like many sprinters, could not.

Brennan said he felt honoured to be compared with him.

 The big story of this year’s Vuelta of course was the abandonment after a severe crash of Slovenia’s world champion Tadej Pogacar on stage eight, which completely changed the race dynamic. His famous exploits and long lone breakaways to win classics and Tours alike are astonishing and hugely entertaining. But he leaves the rest struggling, and he was doing this in the Vuelta until a cruel twist of fate took him out. It was his first serious injury, and he has been adapt at evading pile ups.

Pogacar, the race leader since the beginning of the race had a healthy overall lead, when he hit a stone in the road and went down hard, sustaining serious cuts and fractures. He was unable to continue and was instead taken to hospital.

 With him gone, the Vuelta became a much closer race, with Mas, plus four times winner Roglic back in the frame, also Gall, Carapaz and Kuss and  Onley also looked likely for a podium place for a while. Mas countered their every move.

Mas, second overall when Pogacar fell, and the only rider thus far to stay with Pogacar  on a mountainous stage days before, looked uneasy at inheriting the red jersey this way. But his stage win the following day – stage nine -  proved he was a worthy leader and he never faltered for the rest of the race.

  His overall victory gave Movistar their first Vuelta win since Nairo Quintana in 2016.

The final stage in Granada on Sunday was won by Norway’s Johannessen, with Brennan fourth a few seconds behind after he and others missed the move in the last kilometre.

And we cannot overlook Ireland’s Eddie
Dunbar who won the mountainous stage 19, at 210km,  the longest stage of this year’s race.

 The 31^st anniversary Rayner Foundation Charity dinner.

November 7 2026 at Queens Hotel, Leeds.

Includes the Live Auction of cycling memorabilia.

For ticket details follow this link. -

THE RAYNER FOUNDATION CHARITY DINNER - 2026 | Rayner Foundation

 

 

 

 

Pogacar out of Vuelta - can Onley seize the moment.

 

Oh, shit. The star crashed out! Tadej Pogacar, the master of the long escape, star of Grand Tours and single day classics who has no equal has succumbed to the Hand of Fate.

Wearing the overall leader’s red jersey since winning stage one, Pogacar crashed heavily on stage eight with 31 - 33 km to go and was taken to hospital.

King Pog has fallen. And there is no stand-in to entertain us as he does, with mighty long range attacks to decimate the field.

Pogacar, the most entertaining rider of the modern age, who has had so few falls as a pro, is down and out. His aim to win his first Vuelta and add his third Grand Tour to his palmares is over.

He was later diagnosed with a concussion, displaced left clavicle fracture, a stable C7 cervical fracture, and multiple abrasions.

His run of good luck is over. For he has suffered few crashes in his career.

A summary of previous falls and injuries as a pro s go back to only 2023, in Liege-Bastogne-Liege abandoned after falling and fracturing his wrist.

 In the 2025 Strada Bianchi, he crashed but avoided serious injury.

In the 2025 Paris-Roubaix he crashed and finished second to Mathieu Van der Poel.

A few days before his demise at the weekend, Pogacar had a narrow escape when he left the road on a fast descent, but successfully wrestled his bike over gravel to remain upright and come to a stop. In a trice he was back on tarmac to rejoin Mas and then emphatically beat him to win his third stage.

The shining light that is Pogacar may have gone from this Vuelta – but his absence has reignited the ongoing battle among those previously confined to ride in his shadow.

How will the new leader of the race Spain’s Enric Mass take command?  He has inherited the red jersey but can he hold on to it?

Will Pog’s going unlock the potential of Britain’s Oscar Onley – fourth in the 2025 Tour de France?

We could still be in for a gripping finale.

British star of the Vuelta, Oscar Onley

It looked so, as Mas won next day’s stage nine, the Queen Stage, a mountain top finish where he  narrowly beat Onley.

Onley now in the white jersey as best young rider, is one of Britain’s future stars.

British riders have been in the frame in this Vuelta from the beginning.

Remember how on the opening stage Ethan Hayter narrowly lost to Pogacar, taking second place ahead of Josh Tarling who was third and who had started to honour the memory of his younger brother Fin, tragically killed in the Tour of Portugal only the week before?

A week later Josh understandably pulled out.

And what of new British sprinter on the block, Matthew Brennan, who delighted by powering to victory on stages three and five?

Here’s the top five after stage 9, before Monday’s first rest day. 1, Enric Mas; 2, Roglic at 1-18; 3, Gall at 1-39; 4, Onley at 2-20; 5, Carapaz at 3-26.  

 

 

 

UCI criticised for lack of action following Tarling’s death in Tour of Portugal - and Tour of Britain needs urgent safety review

 

 

The UCI has been criticised for lack of action and lack of anger following the death of Britain’s Fin Tarling, killed by an oncoming vehicle in the Tour of Portugal two weeks ago.

The race operates with a police rolling road closure, as do many smaller stage races in Europe. Only the Grand Tours get a full road closure. It’s a costly business. But the loss of one life is a price too high to pay for anything less and the rolling road closure has been shown to have holes in it.

And yet the fear is organisers will just say sorry – and carry on.

Richard Plugge, manager of two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, says in today’s Guardian that leading teams “should take responsibility for ensuring safety.”

Plugge is angry that “neither UCI President David Lappartient, nor anyone else, stands up and says, ‘Wait a minute, we really need to think about how we are going to prevent this happening in the future.’”

A formal investigation into the Tarling tragedy is underway, but neither the UCI nor the Portuguese Cycling Federation has commented further.

However, the Portuguese police have confirmed that Tarling had become isolated and was racing without a police escort.

The rolling road closure needs to be backed up with complete marshal cover on all side roads including roads into and out of business premises. Crucially, there must be an escort for every group and single rider behind the main peloton.

This should also be applied in the UK, which brings me to the recent women’s Tour of Britain (see previous blog). This saw Aussie star Maeve Plouffe come close to being hit by vehicles on stage one based on Cockermouth.

Over a week later and still no explanation about this security breach, but plenty about Kim Le Court who won the overall classification when the Tour finished at Leamington Spa a week later.

Let us hope the pro riders will demand answers to an incident which could have had tragic consequences.

The organisers cannot be allowed to brush this issue under the carpet for fear of bad publicity scaring sponsors!

So let us remind ourselves what happened on the Women’s Tour of Britain.

Plouffe was chasing alone a couple of minutes behind the peloton – she could see them ahead - when suddenly she was “assailed by cars coming at me from all directions, including one nearly h it me on a roundabout.”

The irony is that at the stage start that morning the field held a moments silence to honour Finley Tarling.

Clearly the safety bubble created by the police operating rolling road closures – the method adopted for the Tour of Britain to allow riders the full width of the road - has been punctured.

Riders’ safety is at risk especially when taking blind bends on the wrong side!

If organisers cannot improve security they should be frank with the riders on the start line and tell them - as would an army commander before battle:  “Some of you may not make it.”

Too blunt? I don’t think so.

Riders who fall behind the main race and therefore outside of the security bubble should in future be warned: “ride on the left (on the right in Europe) to at least avoid risk of head on collision.”

It brings a new and horrible connotation to DNF!

The “police bubble” on the Tour of Britain is intended to operate from front to back - to last vehicle in the race, the broom wagon shepherding the last of the riders.

Crucially, the police “bubble” allow riders to use the full width of the carriageway!

For years they have got away with it.

The question is how did traffic get onto the course with the potential to drive head on into the race?

We know the police escort is intended to keep the roads clear. It is a skilful and risky job given the outriders at the front are driving into traffic situations they must slow down and prepare to stop, with public vehicles everywhere.

We remember the death of  PC Dave Hopkin performing this task on escort duty in the 1998 Tour of Britain, killed in a head on collision!

We know from the TV that not all side roads have a static marshal present.

Did that contribute to this incident with Plouffe?

Driveways to property need ropes across them. Side roads need barriers or a marshal.

As it is now, an absent minded driver may, on the spur of the moment, decide he or she needs to be somewhere and forget there is a race due past the end of their road, or t heir driveway and drive onto the “course”.

I read on social media today that the National Escort Group in Britain has been reduced in size?

What for? To save money?  Surely with money bags Lloyds Bank as sponsor they can afford more outriders not fewer?

Following her brush with death, Plouffe quit the race.

At least she lived to tell the tale!

 

 

….

 

 

 

Death and car near miss highlights serious safety issues in bike racing

 

The death of teenager Finlay Tarling hit by an oncoming vehicle in the recent Tour of Portugal and the recent near misses in the women’s Tour of Britain reported today by Aussie star Maeve Plouffe is a wakeup call.

There needs to be a radical change in the rules of racing on the highway before someone else is killed.

Both riders were behind the main body of their respective races, chasing to re-join when tragedy struck in the Portugese race and was narrowly avoided in the Tour of Britain on the first stage a few days ago. “Cars were coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout,” said Plouffe who quit the race. 

If races cannot maintain the security of the “bubble” created by the police rolling road closure which allows riders to use the width of the carriageway, riders who fall behind and outside of that “protective” bubble should be told to expect oncoming public traffic. This  means that crucially they should be told not to continue to use the full width of the road but  to keep to the left (in Britain), especially on bends and show caution at every junction.

Is not every group on the road, every single r rider chasing and perhaps several minutes down, protected by police outrider?

I recall Paul Sherwen’s brave lone chase of over five hours during a Tour de France in the 1980s. He had a police outrider with him all the way, and that’s race which operates a full road closure.

Smaller races are unable to afford that. It is a costly business, hiring a police escort. Years ago it would cost a £250,000 for a week. Today, what is it, more likely twice that, at least?

I recall  watch television pictures tracking riders passing side roads and junctions on the Vuelta d’ Espana, all clearly  revealing a marshal present, or a rope or a single barrier across driveways.

The same cannot be said on the Tour of Britain, where TV pictures often reveal side roads with no marshal present, even some in town centres. Some junctions were covered, some not.

I clearly recall the first of the modern Tours of Britain over 20 years ago. The opening stage was from Blackpool to Manchester which I covered from a press car, noting many side roads did not have a marshal present.

Although the police were doing a stirling job keeping the roads clear for the main race, they were stretched to keep traffic off the course over the final miles into Manchester which was quite hair-raising.

I was told by the organisation the rolling road closure operated by the police provided all the security needed.

Yes, within that bubble it may do so. But clearly not outside of it, as has been clearly demonstrated.

Such is the huge presence created by the race, the advance vehicles, the t v motorbikes, the bunch, the team cars, the clatter of the chopper overhead; no one is left in any doubt that  something big is thundering through.

But when all that hullaballoo has passed and the road goes quiet, and chasing groups of riders are perhaps several minutes behind, what happens next is down to a wing and a prayer. 

Drivers – if no marshal is present – are left to decide when it is safe for them to continue! Recipe for disaster, not just for riders, but vehicle occupants, too.

Jonathan Day, events director of the Tour of Britain, issued a statement to the BBC: We note Maeve Plouffe’s comments about her experience during Wednesday’s race, and we’re taking these very seriously.

“Rider safety is paramount and will always be treated as a priority in our planning and how we operate any race.”

“Were reviewing what happened with Maeve and her team O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes with the seriousness and empathy these comments demand."

Yes, but what practical measures can you bring in for the remainder of the race?

Here’s what the Tour of Britain needs to do immediately,

Riders outside the “bubble” must be told they are no longer protected and must follow normal road traffic law, keep to the left (in Britain), and expect hazards at side road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Hat Trick' rders on Mount Ventoux

 

 

Mount Ventoux was climbed by the Tour de France
Femme for the first time in July. It first featured in Le Tour in 1951, when Louison Bobet won the stage and Ferdi Koblet the overall race.

It is the most mythologised mountain in Tour history, says my Tour guide.

To ride it once is a major feat for many amateurs.
But what are we to make of a claim by those of the “Ventoux Crazy Club”, reserved only for those scale its dizzy heights three times in one day! A “Hat Trick”!

Can you believe that? Perhaps the Crazies are alien hybrids, not human.

You might think that making such ertreme demands of your body would attract the attention of the Grim Reaper! 

I came across an account of such a ride only recently, posted on the 

internet some years ago.

Mount Ventoux summit 1910 metres absl :nearly there

Known as the Giant of Provence and rising 1910 metres above sea level, Mount Ventoux presents an unrelenting steep gradient like no other. The final six kilometres of the upper reaches across the white stony bare mountain is likened to a lunar landscape blindingly reflecting the sun’s heat.  

Like riding in an oven.  Fierce winds can make the ascent more difficult. At the top, the air is distinctly cold despite the sun – as you would expect at nearly 2000 metres altitude. It is twice as high as Snowdon in North Wales. You will need a light jacket against the chill.

The weather can be unpredictable.  One year during a sportive a sudden change in the weather saw temperatures at the summit plummet to near freezing. So many riders were caught out by this that the emergency services were in danger of running out of blankets to help the stricken laid out by the roadside. A barrier was hastily placed across the road further down the mountain to prevent a thousand others causing a humanitarian crisis. The event was cancelled.

It is a daunting yet beautiful place to reach and many amateur riders are lured to it, to test their resolve by riding to the summit. There, from the roof of the world, you may catch sight of hang gliders circling in the thermals below!

But what are we to make of the Ventoux Crazy Club?  Not content with making one ascent, the “crazies” have taken it upon themselves to ride to the
Ventoux summit three times in one day!

 Surely this is the stuff of nightmares. From which they awake screaming.

Well, you are right to point out that in an Etape du Tour mortals get to ride a full stage of the Tour, which may include three or more cols.  Good point.

And yet some overdo it and I know of one experienced rider who finished unable to speak.  He was so unwell he took to his bed without eating.

And does anyone climb the Tourmalet. that Pyrenean giant, three times in one day; or the Galibier, the monster in the Alps, three times; or the famously steep 21 hair pins of L’Alpe Duez, three times?

I’ve never heard of it. The point is that the Ventoux is seen as particularly harsh. There is no easing in to the climb, unlike some summits. From Bedoin and from Malaucene two of the starting points, the road goes straight up an unrelenting gradient for 21 kilometres!

I was advised that when riding these high mountains for the first time you have to understand you will be working harder for much longer than on British climbs for instance, which typically, say will be of 20 to 30 minutes duration. The longer steeper roads up Ventoux will take an average rider at least three or four times that.
Which is a lot more work than a first timer would be used to.

So you would need to get some quality training done.

Work out what low gear will suit, then go lower and fit another another lower gear in reserve, just in case. And everything worked fine for me. Great ride, tough, but good going, happily tired. And I had no wish to repeat it – that day!

The account  tells us how two brothers  first tackled the ascent from Malaucene, and descended to Bedoin from where they started their second ascent.  Both are 21 kilometres long and equally as steep as the other, at 9/10 per cent.

Having reached the summit for a second time, they descended to Sault, turned round and rode back up. This is 25 kilometres long and though less steep, still demanding.  This joins the route from Bedoin at Chalet Reynard, so that means they scale the six-kilometre exposed climb across the “lunar” landscape for a second time to make the summit for the third and final time. Job done – except for a third descent, to their accommodation.

Let’s look at the logistics facing the average rider, not the likes of Pogacar or the other pros including the women,  Niewiadoma or Vollering who blasted up it recently.

Because as well as spending  hours riding up from three different start points  you gotta allow time for the descending.

Now Tour champion Pogacar went up from Bedoin in the fastest time of 53 minutes in 2025.
The average time for top amateurs is estimated to be less than two hours; but more typical amateur times are between 2.5 and four hours each, from all three starting points.

I’m not sure how long overall it took them, nor did I get much sense of suffering, but I did get their shared excitement at their achievement - bit of a wheeze!

Let’s do the sums, which is only a guide.

If it takes 2.5 hours for each climb – that’s being generous -  and maybe 40 minutes or so for each descent (I took 40 minutes to descend to Malaucene back in 1997 – after  I had ridden up from Sault in 1-44)

We are looking at a total riding time exceeding nine hours, maybe 10.

 Then you must factor in meal breaks.

By starting early in the morning, they probably finish mid-afternoon. But that’s a guess.  

Perhaps they dreamt it all! And to this day they wake up screaming,

I am gobsmacked!

FINALLY: There is also talk of an off-road ride to the summit as well – to be done after the three road routes!!!!

What the?????

Now, that’s bonkers and anyone even thinking of doing that needs locking up in their bike shed.

FOOTNOTE: Tip.  There are car parks on the ascent from Malaucene which you can put to good use.  I recall how photographer Rob Lampard, on a local hire bike not really suited for the purpose smartly took some respite from the fierce gradient by turning   into each car park for a few laps, to give his legs some relief, before exiting and continuing to the top. A smart fellow, Rob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vollering triumphs to take her second Tour de France Femme

 

Surely Dutchwoman Demi Vollering was a worthy winner of the Tour de France Femme in Nice on Sunday, despite accusations of blocking by her team made by the disposed race leader, Poland’s Kasia Niewiadoma .

This was Vollering’s second Tour victory. She won overall by the clear margin of one minute and 18 seconds from Niewiadoma who had no answer to Vollering’s attack on the final climb on the final stage taking in four ascents of the Col d’Eze around Nice.

The accusations came the day before, after the penultimate stage when Vollering’s team mate Celia Gery is alleged by Niewiadoma to have blocked her as Gery’s team leader attacked to ride clear and take Niewaidoma’s yellow jersey.

Nothing like controversy to enliven the day, although the race was lively enough without it.

Gery denied it, Vollering supported her. There was no official reaction reported, so that left a bitter taste in the mouth.  But during the early part of Sunday’s final stage, I read that Vollering took Niewaidoma to task about being too quick to make her accusation. They had a frank talk, cleared the air and reconciled matters.  

Let’s face it, riders do get blocked in during road races as the pack shifts about. Clearly teams might – probably do - try to exploit that. It’s all part of road racing and for most part it’s up to individuals to make sure they don’t become compromised. A tap on a hip or nudge is usually all that’s needed to move around the peloton’s swirling vortex. 

But to deliberately block someone, that’s a serious accusation.

That was the only dark side to nine days of gripping racing.

None better than Friday’s superb  “Queen” stage to the that iconic summit of Mount Ventoux, the Giant of Provence, where Niewiadoma’s attack to take the yellow jersey distanced Vollering and the then race leader Marlen Reusser, winner of the previous days’ time trial.

Ah, the Ventoux, rising without respite to 1910 metres above sea level, the road uniquely tops the very summit, rolling over the hump dominated by the huge tower.

 It is considered by many to be the hardest of climbs on hot windy days when the sun’s heat is reflected off the white stones of its stark lunar-like landscape – a punishing environment both physically and mentally.

I was pleased that the shots from the helicopter tracking Niewiadoma’s epic ascent included a glimpse of the memorial to Tom Simpson at the road side just below summit.  In the tragic 1967 Tour, Simpson died after collapsing at that spot.

In 1997 I was part of a small group riding the Ventoux to mark the 30^th anniversary of that terrible day, in the company of Tom’s daughter Joanne who was only a small child back in ’67.

She had determined to take the Simpson name to the top of the Ventoux, to complete the ride for her dad. And so she did. It was a tough ride, an honour to take part, albeit at a much slower pace than the pros!