Masters cycling triumph tinged with sadness for Anne (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Masters cycling triumph tinged with sadness for Anne

10:13am Friday 5th September 2008 in

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ANNE Plant raced to an emotional triumph in the World Masters Road Race Championship in Austria and she dedicated her success to her late father-in-law, who died while she was abroad competing. Anne, aged 52, from Ulverston, is no stranger to these World Championships, having won seven titles in all at various age categories.

Her latest success was her second Masters title, having also taken the championship last year.

The part-time maths teacher at Barrow Sixth-Form College had been training hard on her sprinting in preparation, fully expecting a bunched finish as had been the norm in the past.

But the race did not pan out that way. A strong climber, Anne chose to break away on the first slope over the bumpy 42k course based on St Johann in the Tyrol.

The tactics were rewarded as she and the United States rider Susan Shook stayed away from the rest of field to fight out the finish.

Anne won comfortably from Shook by nine seconds with the rest of the field a further two minutes adrift.

She said: "We had been only an hour in Austria when the news came through about my father-in-law's death, but the family wanted me to go on and compete.

"Stanislaw had a wonderful life and although he was a good age, it still hits you hard.

"It left me a bit unfocussed at the start of the week, but when I got on the bike in the Championship race I felt as strong as an ox and wanted to win it in his memory."

Anne had been loaned a women's lightweight Williers carbon-fibre road bike by Staveley-based firm Wheelbase and she said it had played a part in the victory.

"I felt very confident on the climbs on the carbon-fibre bike and it helped me push on and the two of us worked together to open up a decisive gap."