PARALYMPIC cycling star Aileen McGlynn has added to her medal collection with two golds in this year's world championships.
The 34-year-old Scot won gold for both the 3km pursuit and 1km time trial alongside her tandem pilot Ellen Hunter at the 2007 UCI para-cycling competition in Bordeaux, France.
Aileen, who is visually impaired, said: "It was totally amazing to win the gold.
"When I was standing on the podium with the gold medal around my neck, I felt a tingling feeling rushing through me. I was convinced I was going to faint - I couldn't believe I'd done it."
The women used specific training techniques for the 1km time trial but did not do any formal training for the pursuit.
Aileen said: "Winning the pursuit was the cherry on the cake and was a really amazing feeling. I didn't know we had it in us."
The pair, who won gold and silver medals at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, are focused on the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing and the 3km pursuit.
Paisley-born Aileen said: "A lot of our success is down to the fact we've stuck by each other through thick and thin. We both get medals because it's a team effort."
Ellen broke her back in June 2003 but the pair were back riding tandem again in 2004.
Dave Mellor, of the British Cycling Federation, praised the girls' efforts.
He said: "We've got two fantastic medals but we can't rest on our laurels.
"We'll have to work fast - Beijing is just under a year away."
Source: Evening Times 19/09/07
Thursday 27 September 2007
2007 UCI Para-Cycling World Championships
The 2007 World Championships were held in Bordeaux, France. We travelled out on Wednesday 15th August which gave us a few days to get used to the steeply banked 250m track prior to the competition starting.
The goals for this year were set high with us required to win Gold in the 1km time trial in a new World Record time or to win Gold in the 1km and podium in another event. So the pressure was really on us to perform well.
We were entered for the 1km time trial and the 3km pursuit.
Our first event was the 1km time trial the following Monday.
There were 19 female tandems entered for the kilometre and as World Champions, we were off last.
A number of tandem pairings prior to us had false started with the commissar being a little trigger happy in firing his gun and we were no exception to this.
Having only one more chance to get it right we made sure that second time around we didn’t give him any excuses to fire his gun again. On our second attempt the commissar holding our tandem let us go as we set off and then grabbed my saddle again, losing us valuable time.
Despite this we got the tandem going and settled into our ride. The pressure was really on us as the Aussie pairing of Felicity Johnson and Katie Parker had posted a very fast time of 1:10.789. However, we were confident that we could go faster and we crossed the finish line in a time of 1:10.539, to win Gold. Not a new World Record but given the issues at the start, it was a respectable time and just over one tenth of a second off our World Record time of 1:10.431.
Having got the kilometre out of the way, we turned our attentions to the 3km pursuit, which is an event that sprinters dread.
We hadn’t done any specific training for this event and were only riding it to gain points for places for next years Paralympic Games in Beijing.
The pursuit involves riding a qualifying time over 3km with another tandem setting off on the opposite side of the track. The fastest two teams then ride off for the Gold and Silver medals with the 3rd and 4th fastest teams riding off for the Bronze medal later on the same day.
There were 19 female tandems entered for the pursuit and as we were not seeded in the event, we went off in the second heat with the Irish pairing of Walsh and Hickey, setting off on the opposite side of the track.
Due to the number of false starts from the kilometre, we now had to use a start gate instead of being held by a commissar. Not having used a start gate before we were unsure how this would go, but in fact it was fine. At least we didn’t need to worry about whether the commissar would hold us correctly or let us go when he should!
We set off at an easier pace that we would for the kilometre and settled down into a rhythm. Each time we came to our start line, Chris our coach shouted out our lap times so that we knew whether we were going too fast or too slow. We aimed to do around 18 second laps and we were around this which was great. It actually felt reasonably comfortable which was a real surprise to us.
We passed the Irish girls pretty quickly into the race and we crossed the finish line in a time of 3:39.7 which was just over 3 seconds off the World Record time of 3:36.816.
We were absolutely delighted with our time and I was so confident that we would be riding off for the Gold/Silver medals that I celebrated; waiving to the crowd!
I was not wrong and even the Aussie team of Lindy Hou and Toireasa Gallagher who were only one hundredth of a second off breaking the pursuit World Record at the Australian Nationals in February this year were fractionally slower than us.
We now had to do it all again in the afternoon. But even if we did a poor ride the second time around, we would still come away with a Silver medal. However, Gold was what we wanted.
As fastest qualifiers, we now started in the home straight were the crowds of spectators were sat cheering us on. However, this time around I couldn’t hear the lap times from Chris and I lost track of how many laps we had done and more importantly how many we had left; I just kept pedalling as hard as I could. The second ride was a lot tougher than the first earlier in the day and we had to dig deep to keep the pedals turning. It wasn’t until I heard our bell ring first which indicated we had started our last lap that I knew where I was and that we were ahead of the Aussies at this point. One lap left and we gave it everything and crossed the line first to win our second Gold medal of the Championships in a time of 3:40.626. The Aussies finished in a time of 3:42.383. We were now double World Champions!
We just couldn’t believe we had won the pursuit. It was amazing and a fantastic feeling. We had entered this event to gain points for places for Beijing and we had shocked a number of people, including our coaches and team manager by going out and winning. We had achieved our goal for the year by winning 2 Gold medals.
I went out for a meal that night in Bordeaux to celebrate with my mum Maureen and sister Sharon and friends Kathy Ludbrook and Gordon Lister who had travelled to Bordeaux to cheer me on.
Then having just over an hours sleep, we set off for the airport at 4am the next morning for our flights back home.
The goals for this year were set high with us required to win Gold in the 1km time trial in a new World Record time or to win Gold in the 1km and podium in another event. So the pressure was really on us to perform well.
We were entered for the 1km time trial and the 3km pursuit.
Our first event was the 1km time trial the following Monday.
There were 19 female tandems entered for the kilometre and as World Champions, we were off last.
A number of tandem pairings prior to us had false started with the commissar being a little trigger happy in firing his gun and we were no exception to this.Having only one more chance to get it right we made sure that second time around we didn’t give him any excuses to fire his gun again. On our second attempt the commissar holding our tandem let us go as we set off and then grabbed my saddle again, losing us valuable time.
Despite this we got the tandem going and settled into our ride. The pressure was really on us as the Aussie pairing of Felicity Johnson and Katie Parker had posted a very fast time of 1:10.789. However, we were confident that we could go faster and we crossed the finish line in a time of 1:10.539, to win Gold. Not a new World Record but given the issues at the start, it was a respectable time and just over one tenth of a second off our World Record time of 1:10.431.
Having got the kilometre out of the way, we turned our attentions to the 3km pursuit, which is an event that sprinters dread.
We hadn’t done any specific training for this event and were only riding it to gain points for places for next years Paralympic Games in Beijing.
The pursuit involves riding a qualifying time over 3km with another tandem setting off on the opposite side of the track. The fastest two teams then ride off for the Gold and Silver medals with the 3rd and 4th fastest teams riding off for the Bronze medal later on the same day.
There were 19 female tandems entered for the pursuit and as we were not seeded in the event, we went off in the second heat with the Irish pairing of Walsh and Hickey, setting off on the opposite side of the track.
Due to the number of false starts from the kilometre, we now had to use a start gate instead of being held by a commissar. Not having used a start gate before we were unsure how this would go, but in fact it was fine. At least we didn’t need to worry about whether the commissar would hold us correctly or let us go when he should!
We set off at an easier pace that we would for the kilometre and settled down into a rhythm. Each time we came to our start line, Chris our coach shouted out our lap times so that we knew whether we were going too fast or too slow. We aimed to do around 18 second laps and we were around this which was great. It actually felt reasonably comfortable which was a real surprise to us.We passed the Irish girls pretty quickly into the race and we crossed the finish line in a time of 3:39.7 which was just over 3 seconds off the World Record time of 3:36.816.
We were absolutely delighted with our time and I was so confident that we would be riding off for the Gold/Silver medals that I celebrated; waiving to the crowd!
I was not wrong and even the Aussie team of Lindy Hou and Toireasa Gallagher who were only one hundredth of a second off breaking the pursuit World Record at the Australian Nationals in February this year were fractionally slower than us.
We now had to do it all again in the afternoon. But even if we did a poor ride the second time around, we would still come away with a Silver medal. However, Gold was what we wanted.
As fastest qualifiers, we now started in the home straight were the crowds of spectators were sat cheering us on. However, this time around I couldn’t hear the lap times from Chris and I lost track of how many laps we had done and more importantly how many we had left; I just kept pedalling as hard as I could. The second ride was a lot tougher than the first earlier in the day and we had to dig deep to keep the pedals turning. It wasn’t until I heard our bell ring first which indicated we had started our last lap that I knew where I was and that we were ahead of the Aussies at this point. One lap left and we gave it everything and crossed the line first to win our second Gold medal of the Championships in a time of 3:40.626. The Aussies finished in a time of 3:42.383. We were now double World Champions!
We just couldn’t believe we had won the pursuit. It was amazing and a fantastic feeling. We had entered this event to gain points for places for Beijing and we had shocked a number of people, including our coaches and team manager by going out and winning. We had achieved our goal for the year by winning 2 Gold medals.I went out for a meal that night in Bordeaux to celebrate with my mum Maureen and sister Sharon and friends Kathy Ludbrook and Gordon Lister who had travelled to Bordeaux to cheer me on.
Then having just over an hours sleep, we set off for the airport at 4am the next morning for our flights back home.
Vital Open Tandem Track Meeting 14 May 2007 Report: Andrea Ingram
A fantastic night of tandem racing was had at the Vital Open Tandem Track meeting with tandem teams from Australia, Great Britain and Ireland competing. The evening kicked off with a live band System Fault which is the name of the band not a description - in the centre of the track to fire up the 16 tandem pairings consisting of men’s, women’s and mixed teams.
The first event of the evening was the flying 200m and perhaps the highlight in this round was the unofficial National Record time of 11.804 posted by Ellen Hunter and Aileen McGlynn, taking 8 hundredths of a second off the National Record set by them last week at the Newport Grand Prix.
The next round of the evening’s tandem omnium was the sprint ladder where points were gained over 3 races, with the fastest tandem pairing riding against the second fastest and so on.
Ellen Hunter and Aileen McGlynn were not to be outdone against one of the Irish men’s pairings riding them all over the track as is Ellen’s way and giving them a good lesson in tactics as they smiled their way to the line.
With just the 2 km pursuit to come something most of the sprinters hate, a lot, the Aussie women tandem sprinters Felicity Johnson / Katie Parker were heard nervously joking about a mistake on the lap boards - surely it should be 3 laps? before going on to record a fast 2m 33s and then collapsing on the floor giggling between recovery swigs of something nice.
Hunter / McGlynn, most used to 4 laps tried to topple the Aussies with 2m 28sec - a fine time for any women's pairings.
All the pairings from home and abroad seemed to have enjoyed this unique event with more tandems than you can shake a stick at and hope to come back for another next year.
1. Jon Norfolk / Anthony Kappes Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
2. Shaun Hopkins / Ben Demery Australia
3. Simon Churton / Anthony Gill Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
4. Barney Storey / Iain Dawson VC St Raphael/Waite
5. Paul Hunter / Gwyn Carless Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
6. Michael Delaney (Stoker) & David Peelo Ireland
7. Ben Elliott/Cheryl Owens VC St Raphael/Waite
8. Paul Johnson / Mark Fleming Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
9. Aileen McGlynn / Ellen Hunter Johnson Whlrs / Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
10. Andrew Fitzgerald (Stoker) & John Lynch Ireland
11. Felicity Johnson / Katie Parker Australia
12. Jon Gribbin / Mal Mckinhia Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital-Ireland
13. Jo Wilman / Chris Higgs Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
14. Gavin Allman (Stoker) & Niall Jenkins Ireland
15. Evelyn Dunstan / Neil Orrell Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital Zodiac CC
dnf. Ben MacFie / Ben Holmes Australia
The first event of the evening was the flying 200m and perhaps the highlight in this round was the unofficial National Record time of 11.804 posted by Ellen Hunter and Aileen McGlynn, taking 8 hundredths of a second off the National Record set by them last week at the Newport Grand Prix.
The next round of the evening’s tandem omnium was the sprint ladder where points were gained over 3 races, with the fastest tandem pairing riding against the second fastest and so on.
Ellen Hunter and Aileen McGlynn were not to be outdone against one of the Irish men’s pairings riding them all over the track as is Ellen’s way and giving them a good lesson in tactics as they smiled their way to the line.
With just the 2 km pursuit to come something most of the sprinters hate, a lot, the Aussie women tandem sprinters Felicity Johnson / Katie Parker were heard nervously joking about a mistake on the lap boards - surely it should be 3 laps? before going on to record a fast 2m 33s and then collapsing on the floor giggling between recovery swigs of something nice.
Hunter / McGlynn, most used to 4 laps tried to topple the Aussies with 2m 28sec - a fine time for any women's pairings.
All the pairings from home and abroad seemed to have enjoyed this unique event with more tandems than you can shake a stick at and hope to come back for another next year.
1. Jon Norfolk / Anthony Kappes Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
2. Shaun Hopkins / Ben Demery Australia
3. Simon Churton / Anthony Gill Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
4. Barney Storey / Iain Dawson VC St Raphael/Waite
5. Paul Hunter / Gwyn Carless Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
6. Michael Delaney (Stoker) & David Peelo Ireland
7. Ben Elliott/Cheryl Owens VC St Raphael/Waite
8. Paul Johnson / Mark Fleming Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
9. Aileen McGlynn / Ellen Hunter Johnson Whlrs / Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
10. Andrew Fitzgerald (Stoker) & John Lynch Ireland
11. Felicity Johnson / Katie Parker Australia
12. Jon Gribbin / Mal Mckinhia Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital-Ireland
13. Jo Wilman / Chris Higgs Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital
14. Gavin Allman (Stoker) & Niall Jenkins Ireland
15. Evelyn Dunstan / Neil Orrell Yasumtisu-Schlapp/Vital Zodiac CC
dnf. Ben MacFie / Ben Holmes Australia
Saturday 15 September 2007
Glasgow Paralympian star pleads for sprint chance
GLASGOW cyclist Aileen McGlynn has asked for the sprint to be included at the Beijing Paralympics after landing gold at the Visa World Cup.
The 33-year-old and Welsh lead Ellen Hunter topped the podium in the tandem sprint in Manchester - but will not get the chance in the Far East after organisers scrapped the race.
McGlynn - second in the sprint at the Athens Games in 2004 - said: "It's really disappointing they're leaving out the sprint as we're better now than we were in Athens.
"It puts our position in jeopardy now as we are actually fighting to go. Even though we're world, European and Olympic champions, we still might not get to Beijing.
"We're tactically better now than we were in Athens and since then we haven't really been beaten, so we felt we could have got two gold medals."
McGlynn and Hunter - the Paralympic champs in the 1km time trial - clinched gold by beating Aussies Felicity Johnson and Katie Parker 2-0 in the best-of-three final,- the quickest victory coming in 12.156secs.
The Brits also tried to break the world record in the 1km time trial but missed out by 0.5secs.
"Not breaking the world record was disappointing - but the timing was poor," added McGlynn.
"Having two sprint matches before and dope control stopping us going to the toilet didn't help.
"Whoever organise these things don't seem to see sense at times."
Visa was the first sponsor of the Paralympic Games and their support will continue through to the London 2012 Games as Visa help bring Paralympic sport to a global audience.
Source: Evening Times 14 May 2007
The 33-year-old and Welsh lead Ellen Hunter topped the podium in the tandem sprint in Manchester - but will not get the chance in the Far East after organisers scrapped the race.
McGlynn - second in the sprint at the Athens Games in 2004 - said: "It's really disappointing they're leaving out the sprint as we're better now than we were in Athens.
"It puts our position in jeopardy now as we are actually fighting to go. Even though we're world, European and Olympic champions, we still might not get to Beijing.
"We're tactically better now than we were in Athens and since then we haven't really been beaten, so we felt we could have got two gold medals."
McGlynn and Hunter - the Paralympic champs in the 1km time trial - clinched gold by beating Aussies Felicity Johnson and Katie Parker 2-0 in the best-of-three final,- the quickest victory coming in 12.156secs.
The Brits also tried to break the world record in the 1km time trial but missed out by 0.5secs.
"Not breaking the world record was disappointing - but the timing was poor," added McGlynn.
"Having two sprint matches before and dope control stopping us going to the toilet didn't help.
"Whoever organise these things don't seem to see sense at times."
Visa was the first sponsor of the Paralympic Games and their support will continue through to the London 2012 Games as Visa help bring Paralympic sport to a global audience.
Source: Evening Times 14 May 2007
Sunday 9 September 2007
Disability Grand Prix of Wales 2007
Wednesday 9th May; Wales National Velodrome
Pictures & report from Larry Hickmott
The disability event at the Welsh National Velodrome in Newport on Wednesday night may have been an international but it had the atmosphere of a local club run as the riders from around the world mingled in the track centre with much laughter and stories told and then went out to win on the track determined to win their event.
There were riders from the US, Australia, Ireland and Great Britain plus others from Wales and Britain, all out to get some racing in during the packed programme of events. With a dedicated band of volunteers there to help the riders, the night saw the normal series of time trials over various distances and also some great Tandem racing between both the men and women. There was even a scratch race but for excitement, you can’t beat a close tandem race and there were plenty on the night.
Results
Flying 200 Metres
Aileen McGlynn & Ellen Hunter, GB, 11.887
Felicity Johnson & Katie Parker, Australia, 12.187
Emma Sulivan & Becki Rimmington, Youth, 13.280
Emma Fitzgerald & Joanna Hickey, Ireland, 15.443
Ailish Dunne & Orla Hendron, Ireland, 16.448
Tandem Sprints - Match A
Emma Sulivan & Becki Rimmington GB Youth beat Emma Fitzgerald & Joanna Hickey Ireland 15.21
Aileen McGlynn & Ellen Hunter GB beat Felicity Johnson & Katie Parker Australia 12.551
Tandem Sprints - Match B
Emma Sulivan & Becki Rimmington GB Youth beat Emma Fitzgerald & Joanna Hickey Ireland 16.034
Aileen McGlynn & Ellen Hunter GB beat Felicity Johnson & Katie Parker Australia 12.538
Pictures & report from Larry Hickmott
The disability event at the Welsh National Velodrome in Newport on Wednesday night may have been an international but it had the atmosphere of a local club run as the riders from around the world mingled in the track centre with much laughter and stories told and then went out to win on the track determined to win their event.
There were riders from the US, Australia, Ireland and Great Britain plus others from Wales and Britain, all out to get some racing in during the packed programme of events. With a dedicated band of volunteers there to help the riders, the night saw the normal series of time trials over various distances and also some great Tandem racing between both the men and women. There was even a scratch race but for excitement, you can’t beat a close tandem race and there were plenty on the night.
Results
Flying 200 Metres
Aileen McGlynn & Ellen Hunter, GB, 11.887
Felicity Johnson & Katie Parker, Australia, 12.187
Emma Sulivan & Becki Rimmington, Youth, 13.280
Emma Fitzgerald & Joanna Hickey, Ireland, 15.443
Ailish Dunne & Orla Hendron, Ireland, 16.448
Tandem Sprints - Match A
Emma Sulivan & Becki Rimmington GB Youth beat Emma Fitzgerald & Joanna Hickey Ireland 15.21
Aileen McGlynn & Ellen Hunter GB beat Felicity Johnson & Katie Parker Australia 12.551
Tandem Sprints - Match B
Emma Sulivan & Becki Rimmington GB Youth beat Emma Fitzgerald & Joanna Hickey Ireland 16.034
Aileen McGlynn & Ellen Hunter GB beat Felicity Johnson & Katie Parker Australia 12.538
Trip to Aus!
2007 started for me with a training camp in January to Australia. We spent the first two weeks in Bendigo; about one and a half hours drive north of Melbourne. It was the middle of summer in Australia with temperatures reaching 40 degrees centigrade. To avoid the heat we had to train at 7am in the morning and then late on in the afternoon.
There was an outdoor velodrome in Bendigo, however it was a D-shape and the sweeping bends made it hard for the boys to control the tandem at high speed. Anthony Kappes and I had to swap pilots so that I rode with Barney Storey and Anthony rode with Ellen Hunter.
It was very good training in the warm weather and we saw a few kangaroos on one of our rides!
We then travelled to Sydney were we competed at the Australian Track Championships. This wasn't a major event for us this year and so we didn't do a taper beforehand.
However, the night before our kilometre time trial we were told that we could gain points towards qualifying places for Beijing, which changed the whole focus of the Championships for us and added a bit more pressure!
There were 5 female tandems entered for the kilometre and as World Champions, we were off last. However, we didn't get off to a great start and for some reason or another we rolled completely off the track at the start of our race with the clock ticking away! We rode back onto the track and kept going. We lost 1.5 seconds in our first lap alone. We kept going and crossed the finish line in a time of 1:11.803. Thankfully it was enough to win the Gold medal but we may have also broken our World Record time of 1:10.431 if we hadn't lost so much time in our first lap.
There was an outdoor velodrome in Bendigo, however it was a D-shape and the sweeping bends made it hard for the boys to control the tandem at high speed. Anthony Kappes and I had to swap pilots so that I rode with Barney Storey and Anthony rode with Ellen Hunter.
It was very good training in the warm weather and we saw a few kangaroos on one of our rides!
We then travelled to Sydney were we competed at the Australian Track Championships. This wasn't a major event for us this year and so we didn't do a taper beforehand.
However, the night before our kilometre time trial we were told that we could gain points towards qualifying places for Beijing, which changed the whole focus of the Championships for us and added a bit more pressure!
There were 5 female tandems entered for the kilometre and as World Champions, we were off last. However, we didn't get off to a great start and for some reason or another we rolled completely off the track at the start of our race with the clock ticking away! We rode back onto the track and kept going. We lost 1.5 seconds in our first lap alone. We kept going and crossed the finish line in a time of 1:11.803. Thankfully it was enough to win the Gold medal but we may have also broken our World Record time of 1:10.431 if we hadn't lost so much time in our first lap. We then had a couple of days before the Sprint. The same 5 female tandems entered this with the fastest 2 tandems in the qualifying flying 200m riding off for gold and silver; with third and fourth riding off for bronze.
We qualified second in a disappointing time of 12.11s with the Aussie paring of Lindy Hou and her new pilot Toireasa Gallagher qualifying fastest in a time of 11.88s.
The final of the sprint was decided on the best of 3 rides over 5 laps of the track.
In the first ride we sat at the back for the first 3 laps and then jumped past the Aussies, got our heads down and rode hard to the finish only to be beaten on the line. This made us even more determined to win the next race or it would be all over for us.
On the second race, the Aussies lead it out and we again sat at the back but left it until one and a half laps to go, to do our jump. Both teams were side by side for a lap and a half with us squaring the match by half a wheel. So it was going to be winner takes all on the third and final race!
So to the ride off and it seemed to have been scripted for us as Hou and Gallagher made it a tactical ride, stalling in the back straight, a tactic that we were more than a match for before making their effort just before the bell. From that point it was all over as we got up to speed much quicker than our opponents and by turn 3 had easily taken the lead and were a length clear at the line to take the title.
It was really exciting racing and I was absolutely delighted to win another Gold medal.
The British team won a total of 10 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medals at the Championships and we were all really pleased.
On our way back home we stopped over in Beijing to see what it was like. It was a real experience with people constantly hassling you to buy goods from them when simply walking along the street. We could see the Olympic stadium from our hotel but we weren't allowed to visit it.
My next major competition is the Paralympic World Cup being held in Manchester on the 11 May and then we will travel to Bordeaux in August for the World Championships.
We qualified second in a disappointing time of 12.11s with the Aussie paring of Lindy Hou and her new pilot Toireasa Gallagher qualifying fastest in a time of 11.88s.
The final of the sprint was decided on the best of 3 rides over 5 laps of the track.
In the first ride we sat at the back for the first 3 laps and then jumped past the Aussies, got our heads down and rode hard to the finish only to be beaten on the line. This made us even more determined to win the next race or it would be all over for us.
On the second race, the Aussies lead it out and we again sat at the back but left it until one and a half laps to go, to do our jump. Both teams were side by side for a lap and a half with us squaring the match by half a wheel. So it was going to be winner takes all on the third and final race!
So to the ride off and it seemed to have been scripted for us as Hou and Gallagher made it a tactical ride, stalling in the back straight, a tactic that we were more than a match for before making their effort just before the bell. From that point it was all over as we got up to speed much quicker than our opponents and by turn 3 had easily taken the lead and were a length clear at the line to take the title.It was really exciting racing and I was absolutely delighted to win another Gold medal.
The British team won a total of 10 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medals at the Championships and we were all really pleased.
On our way back home we stopped over in Beijing to see what it was like. It was a real experience with people constantly hassling you to buy goods from them when simply walking along the street. We could see the Olympic stadium from our hotel but we weren't allowed to visit it.
My next major competition is the Paralympic World Cup being held in Manchester on the 11 May and then we will travel to Bordeaux in August for the World Championships.
Tuesday 4 September 2007
Receiving my MBE
I was absolutely delighted when I was informed that my name had been put forward to the Queen to receive the MBE for services to Cycling for the Disabled back in November 2005. However, I wouldn't have achieved any of my results without my tandem pilot Ellen Hunter who is a fantastic athlete in her own right. In July 2006 I went to receive my MBE from the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
I was more nervous meeting the Queen this time than I had been on previous occasions. It was a fantastic day which my mum Maureen and my sisters Maureen and Sharon thoroughly enjoyed.
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