Latest News

Having had a very successful bike racing stint, producing many victories, Paul decided to refresh his competitive drive and return to his original sport, Triathlon. This time though Paul wanted to take on the massive task of Ironman 70.3. A big enough task on it's own, but, now with a young family and full on job, it was an enormous undertaking which would require hard work, commitment, structure, discipline and communication. Not just from Paul and Project 51, but from the whole family.

2023 saw Paul progressing nicely toward his season goal of the World Championships in Finland with wins along the way.

Here's Paul's words:

"4th, 3rd, 1st and then knocking on the door of a top 10 at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Lahti, Finland until injury derailed my charge.

These results just don't happen - its everything that leads up to them and by that, I mean I could not even hope to achieve these results if it wasn't for Alan and the Project 51 family. I feel like this long-distance Triathlon journey has been a challenge and a learning curve for both of us, where we discuss plans and ideas in order to achieve our goals.

We need to excel in all three disciplines and then put that all together on race day. Our plans have been detailed, focussed and specific to the demands of the races that I do, where Alan pushes me hard when I need to, but also knows when to back off and recover, which is a very delicate balance. Alan makes sense of this puzzle, without it becoming daunting and we seemed to achieve a good routine of consistent training in the build up to the races, with a tried and tested race week formula unique to me to ensure that I am still zippy on race day but with no training fatigue. 

For me now, the other huge consideration is also balancing young family and work life. Endurance sport requires dedication, consistent training and on some levels, a degree of selfishness, and I think one of the the biggest achievements is not having annoyed my family and having them fully onboard and involved in the process. This is helped by focussed training and sessions that Alan puts together and most importantly, making sure every session has a specific goal. They too feel part of the Project 51 family and are involved in the journey.

We have learnt a lot together over the past 12 months, and we have already started putting together plans, goals and targets for the following year which fill me with excitement about what we can achieve."

After working with Project 51 for a couple of years, it was time to put the final piece of the jigsaw in place.

At the end of the 2022 season we sat down with Paul and draw up our plan to win a National road race title (hopefully two) and get qualification for the Master World Road Championships which were being held in Glasgow.

Pauls commitment to the plan is testament that if you put the hard work, the results will come.

Paul's words of his year -   

"Having completed a few races, I felt I needed to up my game and development as an athlete enabling me to complete at a higher level. The training provided by Alan pushed me to new peaks of fitness, and to achieve goals I never thought would be in reach. 

Going into 2023, Alan proposed that I aim to target 3 main races during 2023 and set out a comprehensive personalised training programme. I’m happy to report that I achieved my goals by winning the British Masters Cycle Racing National Road Race Championships, the British Cycling National Road Race Championships and finishing sixth in the Cycling World Championships Glasgow, with an added bonus of winning the season long Percy Stallard National Series.

Being one of the oldest riders that Alan has looked after, I would encourage anyone thinking of racing to go for it! You are never too old to achieve your goals and under Alans guidance your dreams are always possible!

I cannot thank Alan enough for his knowledge and support over the last few years, he is always there for me as a mentor and friend. Being part of the P51 family is something to be proud of."

.

In October 2022 I sat down with Alan and spoke about joining the P51 setup. I had two goals: to be a part of a proper team and to reach the best possible level I could as an athlete. 12 months on and both goals have been surpassed.

Reaching Cat 2 (crit racing) had been a goal for 18 months. Alan’s detailed training, guidance and support allowed me to reset and understand how a proper training programme works over the course of a year. After that clicked, it only took 4 months of racing to go from the bottom of Cat 3 to Cat 2.

Alan also supported, and most importantly encouraged, my pivot (mid-season) back to duathlon in a bid to qualify for the 2025 Duathlon World Championships. Now having full trust and understanding in the Denman method, we put together a programme that has seen me qualify for the 2024 World Champs (1 year early) - alongside a collection of 3 other duathlon 1st place trophies.

Trust, drive and joy. Those are the principles I’ve worked with Alan over the past 12 months and it’s more than paid off.

Finn joined at the close of the 2022 season. After struggling to make the best of his physical ability, the Project 51 family set about the task of finding out why and putting it right. After a year of learning about himself and the complicated sport of cycle racing, Finn finished his season off being invited to ride for the Embark Spitit BSS Team with strong rides in a couple of UCI 1.2 races and a Prem. 

Proof once again that there’s so much more to successful bike racing than DATA!

Finn’s Words

Joining Project 51 has been pivotal in my cycling journey so far. Leaving the Junior ranks and stepping up to Under 23 being able to work so closely with Alan and Olly has been brilliant. The care and pure passion for wanting to see a rider progress, instead of them just being another number who keeps the coaching business running like other set ups, has been amazing and something that has really helped me progress as a rider.

Being able to have an honest and transparent relationship with Alan and Olly too you always know where you stand and what needs to be improved, rather than things being sugar coated and not developing. This relationship also steps off the bike, some tough conversations but all with the end goal of wanting you to be the best person you can be on and off the bike. 

Being able to work closely with other members of the Project 51 family and tap into their knowledge & support at any time is something unique here too, giving you different insights on how to approach certain situations and always analysing previous races on how to improve and become a better rider chasing my dream of becoming a professional cyclist.

Finn’s Parents Words

As parents some of the most fundamental wishes for your children are to know they are ‘safe’, ‘thriving’ and ‘happy’.  We have most certainly witnessed these over the last year, watching Finn working alongside Alan, Olly and other members of the Project 51 family.  I say family because it really is, the whole ethos and driving force comes from the heart, a passion for the sport and wanting the ‘young person to reach their potential’.   It has without doubt been a tough learning year for Finn, with some harsh lessons and tough conversations endured.  However, with the unwavering and unconditional support from Alan and Olly, these have helped him develop not only as a rider but also a young man.   

Of course, the coaching programme has been vital, but the additional ingredient (never experienced before!!!!) has been the attention given to emotional/wellbeing support.  

Crinnan, Nathan, Adam and Dan have all brought something (and continue to do so) unique from their lived experiences of the cycling world/racing to aid his development, a lifelong support network created that can be reached out to any time.   As parents, the trust that we hold for Alan’s way of working has been so incredibly important and allowed us to step back, knowing that he is in safe hands for all aspects of his needs and development.     

We are so proud of what Finn has achieved over the past year within the Project 51 framework and look forward to seeing where things take him next year – we know that to continue to pursue his dreams of becoming a professional cyclist Project 51 are the ‘difference that can make the difference’.  

Chris and Emma Dunton

This years edition of the Roy Hillman Memorial road race has been cancelled due to a serious lack of entries.

We have no alternative but to take this step now. To leave it to run closer to the race date, would just be too big of a risk and potentially left us either running the race at a big loss or if we cancelled nearer the date, be unable to cancel our bookings with the first aid company and HQ booking.

We understand that it’s been a difficult season for everyone, riders, organisers, officials and volunteers. But the current situation of leaving entering races until the last minute is potentially leading to the demise of amateur regional based racing.

The expenses at present for organising a road race are so great, that an organising club just cannot afford to run them with so few entries. 

They also cannot wait until the last-minute hoping people will enter late. If they do this and there still aren’t enough entries, it just leads to a situation where the event runs a loss or gets cancelled anyway and certain invoices still have to be paid, leaving the organising club/individual out of pocket. Also, this leaves the volunteers that had agreed to give up their precious time for the day disgruntled and potentially not offering to help in future. This is probably why the number of road events on the calendar is dwindling.

Not sure what the answer is, but something needs to change.

We’d again like to thank our sponsors for the event, Glorious Bicycles, Orro Bikes, TBW, Nalini Custom Clothing and Power Crust Pizzas.

Also all volunteers that agreed to give up their free time to help with the race.

4th August 2023

Paul Towsley Finishes 6th in Granfondo World Championships

Project 51 coached rider Paul Townsley has just finished 6th in the 75 - 79 year olds age category in the granfondo World Championships held in Perthshire, Scotland

Congratulations Paul.

16th July 2023

Finn Get's His First Road Race Win

First year senior Finn Dunton achieved his first win in an open road race on Sunday and what a race to win! Finn won the much coveted London Dynamo Surrey League race on the Ewhurst circuit, which has the 2 mile climb of Leith Hill to finish.

The race, as seems to be the norm now days, set off at a very pace pace, averaging 28mph. Despite this, lot's of riders were still willing to try and break clear. Finn under guidance from Project 51 Captain and super experienced rider Adam Cotterell kept his calm and didn't waste too much effort chasing these early moves. 

With just over a lap to go, a move went clear containing 8 or 9 riders. Adam realising how strong the break looked and that the bunch seemed less willing and capable to chase, injected some pace into the bunch and then instructed Finn it was time to go.

Finn bridged with a few other riders to the break with one lap to go. Coming into the climb, 5 riders had slipped clear by around 20 seconds. Pacing himself well, Finn set off after the 5 leaders, passing them one by one to finish solo for the win. 

9th July 2023

Paul Townsley Wins British Masters Road Race Championships

Project 51 coached rider Paul Townsley travelled to Devon for the British Cycling Masters National Road Race Championships. 

This event has been an A goal for Paul this year and a plan was put in place to build the training to enable Paul to hit the event in top form.

The race was run over 2 laps of a tough 30 mile lap, which included many climbs with the steepest one hitting 18%.

Following the climbing strategy we put in place and knowing exactly how far to push his body on the climbs, Paul was able to gain on his rivals on the flat sections. Paul finished solo for the win.