Warwick Cyclist Wins on World Stage
Warwick cyclist John Eder has returned home from the Masters Track Cycling World Championships in the UK recently as world champion! The 45 year old won the 750m time trial in 49.741 seconds (a personal best) and qualified first in the 200m sprint, making John the fastest man in the world on a bicycle over 45 years. He also was part of the team sprint which won a bronze medal. Despite a few setbacks with sickness in the lead up and on the day John was confident he had done the hard yards to get him over the line in first.
“I had the flu the whole time over there, but I just had to toughen up,” John said. “For the Sprint event, we all ride a qualifying time over what is called the flying 200m. I did a time of 10.837 seconds which qualified me in first position. “This is the first time I have gone under 11 seconds which I was very excited about and almost .4 seconds off my previous record. “After qualifying the competitors we then do match sprinting but I was too sick to back up and win my way through over this distance but I was still happy to qualify fastest.” Mr Eder believes part of his improvement was a testament to the The Podiatrist’s Rachael Unsworth who introduced him to Solestar cycling orthotics. “To justify this, my friend who beat me at nationals earlier this year rode a time of 11.037 at this event, yet only bettered this time by .007 seconds at worlds,” he said. It wasn’t only The Podiatrist who helped crown John as the newest world champion over this distance. “I have a great team behind me including my coach and a host of medical professionals. I had the motivation to get me there but I also needed to ensure my body was in perfect working order,” Mr Eder said. “My preparation was consistent and I knew I was getting faster and stronger every time went out to.” Part of this process was ensuring his Solestar orthotics were right for him. Podiatrist Rachael Unsworth said Solestar insoles have been specifically developed for high performance.
“The innovative and patented Stabilization-Delta of the SOLESTAR insoles maximize the cyclists’ performance by stabilizing the foot, reducing the recurrent shear forces, and optimizing body posture,” Rachael said. “Obviously John is a very talented cyclist and was looking for those 1%ers – those little things that can give you the gold medal and claim victory and Solestar definitely gave him that extra level of efficiency in his power to achieve just that.”
As a youngster John always rode to school but it wasn’t until after school when he took up racing. “I started out on the road but you had to put in so many hours to get results so I took up track cycling and helped out my blind friend Lorin Nicholson by being his tandem bike team mate,” he said. “We were invited to qualify for the Seoul Olympics but missed out by .1 but I loved it so much so when I turned 35 I started racing in the Masters division and started winning straight away and was hooked!” To qualify for the world championships he won the state sprint event qualifier in a personal best time and the national 750m time trial title and silver in the sprint in Melbourne.
