{"id":3574,"date":"2021-12-15T13:07:32","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T13:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/?p=3574"},"modified":"2021-12-15T14:55:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T14:55:04","slug":"by-the-book-catching-up-with-rising-star-lara-gillespie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/12\/15\/by-the-book-catching-up-with-rising-star-lara-gillespie\/","title":{"rendered":"By The Book \u2013 Catching Up With Rising Star Lara Gillespie"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Senior National Road Race title, a raft of National Track golds, podiums at Junior World and European level, and a European U23 silver medallist; Lara Gillespie has a resum\u00e9 \u2013 and a trophy cabinet \u2013 that could put entire clubs to shame. What\u2019s more, she\u2019s achieved the lot before her 21st birthday.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the brightest prospect in Irish cycling, the Enniskerry athlete enters 2022 with plenty more hardware in her sights, and the 2024 Paris Olympics already firmly on the radar. And, if life wasn\u2019t busy enough, she\u2019s also in the final year of her degree in Health and Performance Science at UCD. We found a gap in her schedule to catch up on her career to date, juggling cycling and studies, and her lofty ambitions for the road and track ahead\u2026<\/p>\n

Take us right back to the beginning – how did you get started?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always cycled casually \u2013 on holidays, and to school \u2013 and did a good bit of mountain biking, because I grew up in the Wicklow Mountains and it\u2019s sort of the perfect place. But I was competitive in every other sport except<\/em> cycling; it wasn\u2019t until I was 15 that I really got into it. I thought I\u2019d joined a mountain biking club, but I\u2019d actually joined a road club! I did my first road race and I was terrible; I crashed, I came pretty much last\u2026but I loved it.<\/p>\n

And never looked back?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I somehow got on the Irish team for the Youth Olympics a few months after that, and I won a medal there; I thought, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m not so bad at this\u2019. And then I started doing track and cyclo-cross and all the other disciplines. I progressed gradually from there because I was still in school and doing other sports.<\/p>\n

Indeed, we know you were serious about hockey, soccer, athletics, ballet, Irish dancing\u2026 Is there something to be said for being well-rounded early on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A hundred percent. Even ballet taught me so much about structure and discipline; Irish dancing developed a lot of my muscles in ways that cycling wouldn\u2019t have, and my running training corresponded so well to cycling training. I was always busy, and had a love for sport in general, so it doesn\u2019t feel like a job now \u2013 I\u2019m just fulfilling my childhood dreams, basically!<\/p>\n

So, at what point did it become clear that cycling would take centre stage?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always thought my hockey training and running complimented cycling super well, but when I was going into college, I had a sports scholarship for cycling and I got onto the Irish Senior Team \u2013 that\u2019s when I decided to go full-time with cycling. I was travelling around the world for World Cup events, so that\u2019s just what naturally happened\u2026<\/p>\n

How important was getting a taste of senior competition so early in your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I didn\u2019t realise it when I first got onto the Senior team \u2013 I was starting college, stressed, and didn\u2019t realise that this was about to become my full-time thing. In hindsight, I\u2019m so grateful that I had these few years \u2013 before it would happen in other countries who might have a lot more riders to choose from.<\/p>\n

It\u2019d take an age to list your various accomplishments, so we\u2019ll ask you: what are the standouts of your career to date?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hmmm, standouts\u2026 definitely my senior results in the past few years; as a young rider in the senior category, I think I\u2019ve shown I\u2019m able to compete at a really high standard, against athletes who\u2019ve had far more experience. Obviously, my Youth Olympics and Junior European and World medals; they showed what I could do even while I wasn\u2019t full time. Winning the U-23 European medal this year, the National title last year. And then the World Cup results we had this year, in the Team Pursuit and the Omnium \u2013 which is an Olympic event \u2013 really showed that I can step up for Paris.<\/p>\n

When you talk about Paris, what events are the focus? Given that you seem to enjoy having a go at just about everything\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs] Well, I\u2019m part of the Senior Irish Track Elite Squad so that\u2019s where my priority lies for Paris. There\u2019s an Omnium spot, a Madison spot, and a Team Pursuit spot \u2013 hopefully<\/em>, we do still have to qualify and all that. It\u2019s going to be very hard to get a road spot for Paris \u2013 an Irish woman has never gone before \u2013 but it\u2019s definitely an aim to qualify for that, too. And I would love to do mountain biking, but that\u2019s not on the cards!<\/p>\n

All of this is happening in tandem with your studies in UCD \u2013 which must surely make life more difficult?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought it was important for me to go to college \u2013 and I\u2019m so happy I did. I think it\u2019s really important for athletes to have something else: to fall back on, but also to be using their minds in other ways. We need a lot of recovery time, but it\u2019s really easy for your mind to just become numb, and I think I need to just keep learning and growing. I\u2019ve had amazing support from the Ad Astra scholarship. I was lucky too, with restrictions; I didn\u2019t miss a thing and got to do everything online. This is my final year, and I\u2019ve been able to manage my modules well so next semester I won\u2019t have a lot to do \u2013 and then I\u2019ve got a degree in my bag!<\/p>\n

We\u2019re once again talking about getting a proper velodrome in Ireland \u2013 and you\u2019re at an age where it makes a massive difference whether it arrives in two, five or eight years. What impact do you think finally having a facility here at home would make?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019d make a huge, positive difference. For me personally, it means track time, getting that experience, and more casual races rather than everything being at European and World level. Then, also, getting other people involved; having more competitors in Ireland, allowing more people access to a track \u2013 and especially young people who could be potential track champions but they have no idea. I really thought it was going to be here before 2024, which would have been amazing. We do<\/em> have a really good base out in Mallorca, but there are sacrifices to that; being away from family, friends, partners, college, any regular young adult experience\u2026<\/p>\n

When <\/strong>we spoke to Shannon McCurley<\/strong><\/a>, the appeal of Mallorca had worn off somewhat\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Luckily, when I\u2019m out there I can still focus on my studies as well. It\u2019s all about the mindset when you\u2019re in those camps; getting in the zone and using it to your advantage. Yes, I could sit here and complain \u2013 it is mundane, day after day \u2013 but that\u2019s athlete life anyway!<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, what are the main goals for the 2022?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The World Championships next September is a major goal; we need to qualify for that, so there\u2019s World Cups in the calendar throughout the year. That\u2019ll count towards Olympic qualifying too, so getting good results will be huge. Also, the U23 European Championships will be a big aim for me; I have two more years in that age group; it\u2019s really nice to know my competitors at that level and know where I stand against them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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