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Luke’s well on the road to retaining Welsh ten-mile cycling title
A Haverfordwest schoolboy is gearing himself up to possibly retain a Welsh cycling title in August.
Luke Cornish, who will be a sixth-form pupil and studying A-levels at Sir Thomas Picton in September, is currently training extremely hard to defend the Welsh Under 18 Time Trial ten-mile title he won last year, and it will be staged this time in Abergavenney.
The dedicated 16-year-old is now training five to six times a week cycling around Pembrokeshire, through stunning scenery, with training partner Tom Owen, also of Haverfordwest.
Long trek to Newport
Luke is a member of Pembrokeshire Velo and the Newport, Gwent-based Cwmcarn Paragon Cycling Club. In the winter months he regularly travels up the M4 to Newport, to use their impressive indoor velodrome track to maintain his fitness during the long winter months.
This summer Luke is juggling his training with work, as he has a part-time job as lifeguard for the RNLI, covering beaches in the north of the county.
Before Luke got so heavily involved in the tough sport of cycling, the talented all-round sportsman was an extremely good swimmer with Haverfordwest Swimming Club and he spent many years successfully competing for them on the West Wales’ circuit.
Cycling stemmed from Triathlons
After leaving Prendergast Primary School and moving up to STP Comprehensive, Luke enjoyed a few years competing in triathlons for Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club, where he was placed in a creditable third spot in one Welsh Junior Finals.
That’s when Luke started his love affair with cycling. The triathlon comprises of three disciplines in the form of swimming, cycling and running, and after competing in that demanding event, Luke enjoyed the cycling discipline so much that he decided to throw his lot into riding a bike competitively.
An average daily training session sees the keen cyclist tackle a 35-mile pursuit that takes him just under two-hours to complete on various routes around Pembrokeshire’s challenging roads.
“The roads around our county are very testing,” said Luke. “but ideal preparation for competitive racing and every route gives me a thoroughly good workout.”
Also, once a month he tests his fitness to the limit with a 70-mile four-hour hike that gives his legs extra strength for shorter journeys over the longer punishing distance.
Mike’s Bikes generously lend support
Luke is indebted to his generous sponsor Mark Rendall, the owner of Mike’s Bikes, his superb shop situated in Prendergast, Haverfordwest.
Mark has kitted Luke out with all the necessary equipment to compete at the top level. Luke’s parent’s, dad Alan and mum Nichola, have also been very supportive and helped their son fund his sporting activities over the years.
However, the cost is expensive travelling back and forth to events all over the country and Luke is thrilled with a new super bike manufactured by Giant (a company that supplies bikes to Tour de France superstar Mark Cavendish) kindly provided by Mark Randall, which cost over £3,000 and amazingly, only weighs 7 kilograms.
“Mark has been brilliant. I really appreciate him giving me this super bike and it will definitely help me when I compete in the big races.”
Big races coming up
Speaking of big races, after Luke competes in the Welsh ten-mile time trials in August, he has a busy schedule in September, where he’ll participate in three top races. They are the British Championships, the National Finals time trial in Swindon and then it’s off to France for a time trials race in Normandy.
His ultimate dream would be to compete in the biggest race of them all and that is, of course, the gruelling Tour de France – and who knows if Luke continues to grow into the sport that he loves and then possibly he may fulfil his lifetime ambition.
Pembrokeshiresport.co.uk was thrilled to catch-up with Luke, who is a modest young man, and no doubt we will hear a lot more of his quest for cycling titles in the not too distant future.
At time of writing this article, Luke has just been informed with the terrific news that he has been selected for the Wales Cycling Team. Well done Luke!
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