Weekends are slightly different, anything between three and six hours really. I use the Wales National Velodrome once or twice a week and also my turbo trainer at home as well.”
The last six months have certainly seen Elinor’s dedication to her training pay off; creeping onto the scene to sneak medals in nearly all her major competitions. It’s quite a list.
With a silver medal in the Time Trial at the European Junior Championships in July, Elinor started the summer as she meant to go on. August saw her crowned the National Junior Pursuit Champion before she represented Wales at the Commonwealth Youth Games in September, bringing back two silver and two bronze medals with her. She then travelled straight to Denmark for the World Championships where she claimed the fi rst medal for GB coming second in the Junior Time Trial.
But out of all of those achievements, which one gave her the most satisfaction?
“Being at the World Championships, the whole experience from start to fi nish, would have to be my highlight. It was just
surreal, I kept thinking ‘am I really here with all these famous people?’
“Our plane was delayed so we were late getting off and we were joking about saying ‘imagine if it was someone like Bradley Wiggins waiting for us’ and then we got to the bus and he was actually there waiting for us! I didn’t recognise him at fi rst because it was quite dark and I looked again and was like ‘oh my god!’”
And promisingly, a fair chunk of those ‘famous people’ happen to be Welsh.
“It was really inspiring to see Geraint [Thomas] do so well, and everyone was really nice. Nicole Cooke was there and we went for a ride with the pros one day; she was chatting to me saying how many Welsh riders there are and that she knows where everybody has come from; that was really nice.”
If the similarities between Cooke’s early career and the steps that Elinor is taking are anything to go by she stands in good stead to reach the top.
“I’ve followed Nicole’s footsteps really. We both started out at Maindy Flyers and went on to ride at Cardiff Ajax and we’ve
both ridden for the Lifeforce team, so I’m following her path and hopefully will continue to do so.”
With the London 2012 Olympics coming around too soon for young Elinor, her sights are already set on 2014 and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
“The Youth Games was a really good experience. It was great to mix with the other sports in that environment. Everyone was really friendly and interested in each other’s sports.
“I defi nitely didn’t expect to come away with as many medals as I did. I thought Australia would take a lot of them but I was really proud of how well Wales did. My family were really proud as well, they couldn’t be there but they were cheering me on at home.
“I’d love to go to the senior Games in 2014; it would be a fantastic experience. I just need to keep training hard. There’s nothing for a while now but I’m hoping to be selected for competitions in the New Year and then the race season starts in March.”
issue19twothousand&twelve sportingwales
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52