Alex tests in Italy!

WRDA member Alex Jones kicked off his 2011 racing preparations with a test on the historic Monza circuit in Italy recently. Despite really wet conditions, Alex thoroughly enjoyed his first experience at the world famous Autodromo di Monza. Running with top international race team Prema Power, driving a Dallara F3, Alex took full advantage of the opportunity to gain valuable track time at the historic Monza circuit as he evaluates options for the 2011 season.

Heavy rain caused a lengthy delay to the track opening, and for a while there was doubt about whether the track would actually open. Fortunately, things did get underway but the morning's running was affected by continuous red flag stoppages. Despite this Alex managed to get in some consistent running making continuous progress. Both Prema Team and Alex ended the day very happy with the results and keen to test again.
"This was my first time in Italy and it was an amazing experience- driving at Monza is something I won't forget" said Alex, "It is my goal now to head back and get some more testing under my belt. The guys at Prema were great and it was a pleasure to work with such a professional team."

Alex puts his race training to good use - running for Charity

Alex explains. I have been running a lot lately as part of my training and preparation for a strong season in 2011, and a good winter test plan. I seem to alternate between running and cycling for endurance training and lately it's running. To get my fix for some competition this year I thought I would enter my first running race (outside of school sport's day) and thought that 10k would be a nice distance- don't fancy a marathon just yet.
So, on the 26th September I completed the Anglesey 10k race. I got up nice and early to get my breakfast in - as my race was at 10:30am. I completed a good warm up and then, as I and 250 other runners gathered in the starting area, I thought that I would give myself the best chance and jostled and pushed my way through to the front of the pack, not expecting to stay there but thinking 'I fancy mixing it up a bit here'.
Colin Jackson gave us the orders and off we went. My plan was to take the first 2k easy and take it from there - didn't work like that of course and I got sucked along with the top 5 guys. The leader started to stretch his legs and I was in no shape to have any answer to him but, surprisingly, was still around the front guys. We got to the 5k mark in about 18mins which was way faster than I had gone in training - I thought 'time to give it full beans', picked up the effort and was suddenly on my own in 4th. From there on it was tough, top 3 were out of reach and there was an equally large gap behind.
I crossed the line in 37:00 for a 10k run and in 4th place- well under my target of 40mins. Not bad for a first road race. I think I am going to do a couple more of these over the winter to keep the competitive edge sharp and the body in good shape until my 2011 on track campaign kicks off - at a much higher speed!!
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