Andy Tennant Interview

Interview: England's Andy Tennant

In Austria last year at the UCI Junior World Championships, a young man from Wolverhampton made something of a name for himself by winning two medals, a Silver in the Team Pursuit and even better, a Gold in the Individual Pursuit. Since then, being part of the Olympic Academy has meant moving from that platform and converting that junior success into even bigger success as a senior rider.

The Commonwealth Games will be the biggest event he has done so far and he says he doesn't as yet know what events he will be doing at the Commonwealth Game.

"Its going to be hard to get a ride in the Team Pursuit with the best England riders being there so if I can represent England in any event, I would be honoured. I feel I probably have the highest chance of racing in the Individual Pursuit where I will relish the challenge and use that experience to help forward my career."

He admits though with the Sydney World Track Cup being the next event on the agenda (this weekend), his focus is on that because it's been a big aim for the Under 23 riders since they came into the Academy last October.

"I haven't so far really given the Commonwealth Games that much thought but I know I will be nervous coming into them as they are going to be a big step up in terms of the level of competition. Hopefully my preparation will help me to have good form for the event and all the support we have help me put in a good performance. Hopefully I can get a good ride out of myself."

Andy hasn't been in Australia that long and when he did get there, he found himself suffering a bit with knee pain. "I haven't been doing much training but it will definitely be useful coming out early. Doing the Sydney World Track Cup should help us adjust to racing in these temperatures. The closet track is Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome which we start training on tomorrow (last Monday)".

And are you racing yet I ask? "The guys did a crit the other night and we have another two crits planned so hopefully we can do well there. I haven't really raced a lot since Christmas although I have been getting down to doing some good work and haven't really had any set backs until now. I also been doing some good tests so I think the form is there -- now its just about getting it all out on the track."

When asked what are the best and worst things about being in Oz, he replied, "the roads are pretty busy around here but I am more than happy to sacrifice that for the nice warm weather! I'm loving it out here -- nice hotel, awesome food and beautiful weather. And girls can't get much better!"

Good to see Andy isn't that nervous to not see the flora and fauna about him in Australia and we wish Andy lots of luck for Sydney and the Commonwealth Games.