Glenn Kinning struck the perfect balance between driving hard and staying upright and was rewarded with an elite men’s national championships bronze medal in the mud of Lady Dixon Park in Belfast yesterday (Photo by Toby Watson; homepage photo by Sean Rowe)
By Gerard Cromwell
A week ago, Glenn Kinning admitted that the National Cyclocross Championships was a race for third place. Yesterday the Audi East Antrim rider won that race and picked up a bronze medal for his efforts.
“I’m delighted,” he said afterwards.
“I’d no problems, no hiccups. Everything went well. The pit crew worked well. I changed the bike a few times which really helped. It’s the first time I’ve really done that.”
While Kinning was just bike lengths off eventual winner Roger Aiken and silver medalist Robin Seymour in the opening corners, experience taught him that was as close as he would get.
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“I knew once they went, that was it, there was no point in trying to stay with them,” he admitted.
“I could see Roger a couple of times and I was holding Robin for maybe a lap or two but I knew it was silly to even think about trying to get that back.”
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While the top two rode clear, the race for bronze became a war of attrition and as his nearest challengers fell by the wayside - literally in some cases, Kinning just kept battling on through the mud.
“I think I was fifth or sixth into the first corner,” he recalls.
“But then I think I was second into the third corner, near the pits. A lot of boys picked the wrong lines and I got a good roll up it.
“The first lap I was with Zippy Doyle and someone else. I didn’t ride flat out the first few laps, just rode steady.
“I seemed to get a gap on the boys behind then and I just went for it and rode flat out after that. The guys were giving me time checks. I was looking back and sometimes you think they’re coming back at you but I just rode steady and tried not to make any mistakes.
“It was just about concentrating to the end. I said to the guys to let the tyres down a bit and it helped on the last couple of laps. I prefer it like that with my mountain bike background from a few years ago. There’s no panic now for the rest of the season. I’ve a medal now, so that’s it.”
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