Pre-World Championship Interview: Shanaze Reade
March 21, 2007
Victoria Pendleton (left) and Shanaze practice a start for the Team Sprint.
Those close to this young lady describe her with superlatives like phenomenal and when you look at the times she does for a standing lap (low 19’s), you can understand why she is special, very special indeed.
It is however ironic that the 2007 World Track Championships will be her first Senior World Championships because her first love is actually BMX and who knows, later this year in Canada, she may well complete a double in winning titles in two disciplines. That is providing she wins a title in Majorca but the chances to do that are certainly good.
Whether that happens will depend on what the other riders in the World Championships come up with. At Manchester, her and Anna Blyth were favourites in the final to win Gold but after a false start by their rivals, the Brits just failed to win that gold, proof that nothing is ever a certainty.
We are though getting ahead of ourselves here because just being selected is a major victory for an 18 year old like Shanaze. “I’m really excited about going to Majorca with the team” she told us as she warmed up on the rollers. “It is really weird going into the Worlds where we could win a World Championship and it doesn’t seem right because I haven’t been doing it long and am only 18.”
Talking about her preparation in the Pre-Worlds training camp, she explained “Everything is going really great and I have been hitting PB’s this week so everything seems to be going well. I feel much faster and fitter than I did going into Manchester”.
If that doesn’t worry her rivals then it should!
The World Championships will be only her second competition on the track and with BMX being her first choice discipline, the whole routine around racing the track is very different. “Its still very new to me” she says “but the experience from the Manchester World Cup was really valuable so going into the Worlds I couldn’t be more prepared for it really.”
“The routine in training and racing is very different to BMX but because I have been training with the guys this winter, it seems like I’m fitting in to the whole setup really well. I’m getting used to the routine of coming in, getting on the rollers and making my efforts on the track.”
We asked her if she felt any extra pressure being paired with former World Champion Victoria Pendleton for the Team Sprint? “There is no extra pressure racing with Victoria” she says in return. “It’s just amazing to be on the track with her after all she has achieved in the sport. I am disappointed for Anna because we gelled together and the Team Sprint was our little thing but then it is sport and British Cycling is a business.”
After a hiccup at Manchester where Shanaze wasn’t aware of the gun being fired after her rivals false started, the team have been working hard on the different elements that go to make up the Team Sprint. Explaining the two key ones, Shanaze says “the two difficult parts are getting the perfect gate because we know the times are so close, and then making the perfect change over. Once you get going out of the gate, and up to speed, you have to be thinking about when to swing up to get that perfect change over.”
And for Shanaze on the day we spoke, a surprise in that she has also been selected for the 500 metres. Being one of, if not the fastest starter in the world, the team are giving her a chance of racing for a medal or title in the 500 and says of that opportunity “its great and I said yes as I thought what I have got to lose?”
What indeed, because although she hasn’t done one in competition before, the young lady from Crewe is in fantastic form and is set to make her mark on the World championships in a big way. One thing is for sure, after winning no less than three world titles in BMX, Shanaze is on her way to stardom and we wish her lots of luck in Majorca!
