Interview: Wendy Houvenaghel

 

13th of March, 2006; by Larry Hickmott

Commonwealth Games Features Home Page

 

 

A rider new to the World stage is pursuiter Wendy Houvenaghel. A rookie in the event, Wendy won a Silver and a Gold in the event at two of the UCI World Track Cups this season to make her the World Track Cup champion for the Women's Pursuit event for 2005/2006.

 

British Cycling spoke to her prior to Wendy winning her first ever World Track Cup gold medal and she admits that winning the ride off within Team GB to get the chance of riding the Sydney World Track Cup gave her a lot of confidence.

"I have put in a lot of hard training this winter since Moscow and more recently, had more track training as well which was specific for the Pursuit with a view to increasing the amount of speed work that I had been doing. This seems to have helped quite a lot and helped me in the ride off against the other GB girls."

Wendy, unlike many in the GB team, is based in Devon where her husband Ian is based in the forces and it's here that much of her training has been done as she explained. "Since October, I have been doing a lot of road work, putting in a lot of miles in and more recently in January, started doing some interval work on the road and on the turbo."

"I have also been to Newport Velodrome once for some track training and also to Manchester Velodrome once. That was for a couple of long sessions, one six hours, and eight hours on the other. It was a heavy period of training but I learned a lot and became quite confident in those two one off sessions. It happened to be at the same time as the British team were out in Majorca so it gave me the time on the track when perhaps it wouldn't have been so free if the other riders had been around. So it was a good opportunity for me to get together with Dave (Lloyd) and go over a few things just to refine my training."

Since that track training, Wendy has come to Australia and been put through her paces by Dan Hunt and Simon Jones in the GB team. "Its been a really relaxing time" Wendy says. "All the focus has been on training and resting. I knew some of the girls from having done the odd stage race and it has been good to meet up with them and be able to train with other female athletes."

That training with GB has meant she has been able to experiment more with her speed work and where as before, much of her training has been when she has been a little tired, with the Games competition not far away, the speed work has been done when she has been properly rested. The upshot was an improvement of four seconds for the 3000 metres pursuit.

"I feel that being out here in the warmer environment on this track has made a big difference to my times. I have really come from training at Newport where I was doing a 3.43 in January just when I started my interval work to bringing that down by four seconds and I think most of that is due to the higher temperatures."

Asked did she feel any pressure having to go through a ride off to get the ride in Sydney, Wendy replied "I just took it in my stride to be honest. I was quite confident because at the Nationals (which she won) I was quite new to the sport, and with a concerted training program specific for the event, I felt it would stand me in good stead. I wasn't sure what their form was and them mine so I just went out there with the view of doing my best."

Being new to the GB environment, I asked how did she find it here in Australia with staff there to look after her whilst she trained and rested? "The support has been second to none and I'm very grateful that is everyone is so diligent".

Looking ahead and whether she would like to try and become a full time GB athlete, and go for the times required to make that happen, Wendy replied "it really depends on how things go over the next few weeks. Being a full time athlete is something I have never experienced before and at the moment I am a part-time dentist and was working right up until the time we left for Australia. That's involved three days a week of dentistry and whatever remaining time would be spent training and cycling."

"So having all the spare where I am not working has proved to be an advantage for me because I have had a better opportunity to rest after my training sessions. Personally, I would like to achieve my potential within competitive cycling and I feel I am taking the appropriate steps to try achieve my goals."

Wendy's life these days is a far cry from the one a year ago when she was in the RAF and after the success she has had so far, the Games will be a major occasion for her and her husband Ian who will be travelling to Melbourne to watch his wife race in the biggest competition of her life so far.

"I am certainly looking forward to riding the Commonwealth Games and after having trained as hard as I can, I am hoping I can reap the rewards that I hope it will."

My thanks to Wendy for talking to us and we wish her lots of luck in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games.

 

Wendy powers her way to a Gold medal helped by GB Womens Endurance coach Dan Hunt.

 

 

Wendy is interviewed by UCI TV.