Team CCN, a new Norwich-based cycling team, have all the support they need to succeed in local and national competitions thanks to sports students at City College Norwich.

The students will give the team the benefit of their sports science expertise in order to help the team's training and race preparation, providing detailed performance analysis and aiding recovery.

Monitoring of Team CCN cyclists' physiological performance will be undertaken by students on the College's new Applied Sport, Health and Exercise degree course.

A new human performance laboratory, due to open at the College later this year, will enable testing of the athletes' body fat percentages, respiratory efficiencies, pedal stroke performance, total leg strength, blood glucose and lactate threshold testing.

This new facility, which will be offered to all local athletes and anyone interested in improving their fitness at competitive rates, is claimed to be the only fully equipped sports science lab in Norfolk.

Team CCN will also be provided with support on competition days, with pre and post race massage provided by College's Extreme Sports Therapy Unit, which is manned by students doing the Level 3 Diploma in the Prevention and Management of Sports Injuries.

As well as being used by the Team CCN riders – Andrew Manning, Darren Evans, Shaun Aldous, Jason Smith and Glen Stanford – the Extreme Sports Therapy Unit service is available to all competitors.

Dick Palmer, principal, City College Norwich, said: 'Our sponsorship of Team CCN provides a great way to further strengthen the links between our sports students and local sportsmen and women. The students will benefit greatly from being able to put into practise their skills with the team. We hope that the performance analysis and sports massage provided by our students will support Team CCN's success, as well as aiding many other local athletes and fitness enthusiasts too.'

Team CCN rider Darren Evans said: 'It is great to have the opportunity to work alongside the students at City College Norwich. We have already benefitted from pre and post race massage from the Therapy Unit and are looking forward to working more closely with the sports department in the future. As a competitive race team it provides us with the opportunity to increase our performance whilst assisting the students.'