Curran gets Mavic award for courage

Britain's top amateur roadman Paul Curran is the Mavic Cyclist of the Month for July.

Curran, who has been almost unbeatable in home competition for the past two seasons, would certainly have earned the £500 prize at some time by virtue of his racing prowess. But this particular award is in recognition of his courage in returning to competition less than two weeks after the training crash that threatened to end his dream of an Olympic medal.

"Nobody could blame Paul if he didn't ride a bike again, said one of his Manchester Wheelers team-mates after seeing the extent of Curran's facial injuries (67 stitches).

But Curran lost no time in getting back to racing, and covered more than 100 miles in the national road race championship before the traumas of the previous week caught up with him.

Six days later Curran was faced with another test of nerve and strength as he started the BCF team time trial championship in a Welsh rainstorm that meant the next 100 kilometres were thoroughly unpleasant for a man still recovering from injury.

His Manchester Wheelers team lost its title, but Curran was near to his best as they took the silver medal only 12 seconds behind the new champions, Scotland.

Curran received his award of a Mavic group set plus a pair of Paris-Roubaix rims after finishing third in the Tour of the Cotswolds.

Thanking the sponsors, Curran said he appreciated the award but would have preferred it to have been made for his riding ability rather than an accident.

However, we believe that readers will agree that we already know that Paul Curran was a champion, and although the circumstances were regrettable, he showed new qualities which made him a unanimous choice for the award.

The Cyclist of the Month award is sponsored by Mavic in conjunction with their British agents, Elsmar Distributers.