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On the 3rd October handcycle racers from around the World descended on Lausanne in Switzerland to take part in the first World Championships organised solely by the EHC. The race was the already established Tour du Lac Leman, a 110 mile road race around Lake Geneva that has been organised by Serge & Monique Meystre. It takes place in a beautiful part of the world and if the riders had time to take in the scenery it is a joy to behold.

I arrived on the Thursday to wind down from all the travelling. Arriving early gave us chance to take in a bit of Lausanne & Ouchy. Lausanne is home to the International Olympic Committee HQ and the Olympic Museum. As time killing was the order of the day, the museum looked a good bet. Some of the exhibits struck a bell with me – Chris Boardmans Lotus Carbon track bike and Heinz Frei’s racing wheelchair.

Entrance to the Musee Olympique in Lausanne

The British team consisted of 2 B Division riders for mid-level paraplegics (Chris Madden, Dave Abrutat) and 2 C Division riders for lower level paraplegia, amputees etc (Kevin Papworth & Ian Marsden).

GB team (L to R: Chris Madden, David Abrutat, Kevin Papworth, Ian Marsden)

Race day dawned. No sleep. Still dark outside. Race starts are always unsocial. And it’s around 5 in the morning when I start questioning why I race. Shifty looking bikers clad in offensive lycra that wouldn’t look out of place on Sky Aerobics troffing down food they-know-they-don’t-want-but-may-be needing-at 105-miles-in without inducing vomiting. Talk was little but the nerves were visible on the faces of all the riders. Few of us had raced over this sort of distance before.

The field was pretty small for a World Championships event but the race distance must have put a lot of people off. It wasn’t officially sanctioned as a UCI event either, so many countries didn’t want to send a team. The race only consisted of B & C division riders as it was considered too difficult for the women and tetraplegics to race over this distance. They were sidelined to a 42km marathon from Nyon to Lausanne.

World Championships startline

The race commenced with a rolling start - a huge peloton of some 32 riders with close to a hundred support cyclists and motorcycle outriders along with the car support vehicles. The peloton was nervous and twitchy as it always is. It quickly became clear that there were a few novices in the oversized group who weren’t used to riding in a pack. By the 4mile mark the inevitable happened. Just behind me, Nigel Barley the C division Australian rider, was barged by someone on his left which caused him to tip-over, catching his handgrip around my drafting bar. I noticed I was slowing but hadn’t figured it was due to the fact I was dragging someone along the tarmac. When I realised (after hearing the screams and smelling the flesh burns..)what was happening I slammed the brakes on and eventually got him unhooked from my draftbar and rear wheel.

By the time I got my composure the peloton was 100m away and trying to catch them on your own, when they’re in full flow travelling at 25-30mph, is every cyclists nightmare. It was deadmans wheel. I must have sprinted like fury for 2 miles until I gave up the chase. I spent the next 30 miles on my own until I assumed the role of the Pied Piper. I was catching all the peloton offshoots.

The first rider was the Czech, Dusan Petrvaldsky, closely followed by Karl Livingston, the other Australian. We were joined for about twenty miles by the Swiss rider, Albert Marti, who was riding the new Swiss prototype bike. We dropped him as he wasn’t doing any work but having a free ride. The peloton had gone through the 26mile mark at world record pace (sub 1hr 5mins).

The weather was ideal for racing; sunny, no wind and cool. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. Geneva was a big milestone – I was there 10 years ago and love the place. It is roughly 100km into the race and from there the road undulates considerably until Lausanne. The peloton was more or less together at this point until Hans-Albert Werkmann from Germany attacked along with Marcel Pipek from the Czech Republic. Kevin Papworth was still with the lead pack at this stage and was going well.

Chris and Ian had dropped off the peloton and worked together for a large part of the race.
Kevin did the Brits proud in his first race over this sort of distance, coming in a very respectable 6th in 5hrs 47mins.