Tuesday 5 March 2013

And the February Yellow Jersey goes to....

Miss Joanna Rowsell MBE!



I can't imagine she needs a yellow jersey when she has a couple of UCI World Champion Rainbow jerseys and an Olympic gold medal for the team pursuit track cycling race.
It sounds strange saying all this about a young lady I remember seeing as a teenager doing the local cycle races around South London about 9 years ago.

It is true that even back then, she was pretty quick for a fifteen-year old and it was hard for even the guys to stick on her wheel. But to be honest, one sees alot of pretty nippy youngsters on the local cycle racing circuit. Back in 2004 there were a number of girls of Joanna's age who were also very quick.

Some of them have since fallen by the wayside and given up cycling. Others have continued to cycle and are doing well at local level - which is as good as one would normally expect. But to see one of these local youngsters winning gold at the Olympics, talking to BBC Sports presenters, even becoming television pundits, and then going on to meet the Queen is just quite surreal!

From what I can see, Joanna has worked very hard to achieve what she has. It is not easy to get out and train and race at that level continuously for years. It is not easy to keep on training on rainy days in winter, or to get back on the bike after a big crash. Joanna, like many cyclists will have had off days to contend with - knocks to her confidence when a race didn't go her way. But Joanna has soldiered on tirelessly, and I for one, think that she deserves every one of her World Championship titles, her Olympic Gold Medal, and the MBE Honour that she was awarded by the Queen last week.

Very well done young lady!

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