In addition to doling out a ton of cash to the top riders in the Willesden road races, the ever-resourceful Jayne Paine has secured an extra special prize for the fastest racers.
The top five in each of the Dulcie Walker Memorial (for 3/4, women and juniors) and in the John Walker Trophy (E/1/2) will receive two free movement therapy classes with yoga, pilates and dance teacher Marcela Wakeham.
Movement what?!
Movement therapy is a discipline devised by Marcela specifically for athletes who train and compete hard, and it’s designed to prepare the body for peak performance on the bike.
It draws, so Marcela tells us, on a variety of physical disciplines and therapies such as yoga, pilates and dance to:
- Strengthen and condition muscles
- Increase flexibility and mobility
- Balance your musculoskeletal system
- Aid recovery from hard exercise
- Prevent injury
In essence, Marcela’s approach to physical preparation is based on undoing the muscular imbalances caused by patterns of repeated movements. Cycling is a classic case of this, where we repeat the same motion over and over.
In so doing, we strengthen some muscles and tire them out through overuse; others lie weak and dormant – and this leaves us prone to injuries such as ligament damage.
Marcela promises to “help athletes eradicate patterns of movement that are out of balance, and to isolate common movement errors that cause injury and rob athletes of speed, power and endurance”.
Can’t say fairer than that!
So, if you want to get yourself TWO free movement therapy classes with Marcela, you’ll just have to finish in the top five…
If you’re not top five material, but would like to be, you can still email Marcela to enquire about classes.
