Profile
Road racing in New Zealand
NAME: Genevieve Whitson
AGE: 30
WEIGHT: 56kgs
MENTORS: Amy Taylor (www.kecycling.com) & Mario Dhingsa
YEARS RACING: 8
YEARS RIDING: 10
FAVOURITE PLACEs TO RIDE & TRAIN: Wellington/Makara, NZ & Highlands, Scotland
MOST MEMORABLE RIDING EXPERIENCE: Road racing in France in 2009 as a guest rider for my Japanese Team 'Ready Set Go Japan'.
WORST RIDING EXPERINCE: Arriving at the wrong airport in Belgium to fly back to Scotland after a hard week of racing, to discover I am going to have to sleep over night at the airport, and use all excess funds to pay for a new flight and consequently starve for 24 hours.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
54th Elite Women, UCI Liberty Classic, USA, 2010
16th Elite Women, Tour of Sommerville Criterium, USA, 2010
4th Elite Women, UK National Cyclocross Trophy, Round 6, UK, 2010
4th Elite Women, UK Women's National Road Race Series, Round 1, UK, 2009
NZ Mountain Bike Representative 2005 & 2006 (Oceania Games and World Champs)
45th Elite Women, World MTB Championships, New Zealand, 2006
6th Elite Women, Oceania Mountain Bike Games, Australia, 2005
1st Elite Women, Scottish National Mountain Bike Championships, 2005
OCCUPATION: Research Administrator, School of Technology, Oxford Brookes University
BIRTHPLACE: Palmerston North, New Zealand
RESIDING: Oxford, England, UK
EDUCATION: Bachelor of Arts, Otago University (New Zealand)
GOOD ADVICE THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME: Follow your bliss
CURRENT GOAL: World Road Championships 2010 and World Cyclocross Championships 2011
INTERESTS WHEN OFF THE BIKE:
Playing the guitar, good food and wine, painting, photography, travelling and exploring new places, skiing and snowboarding, lounging in cafes, reiki, yoga, learning french, green issues
HISTORY:
So where did it all begin?
When I was 17, I started studying at Victoria University in Wellington towards a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Religious Studies and Art History. I saw an ad for the Victoria University Mountain Bike Club and thought it would be a great way to get active again after retiring from competitive running at school, as well as meeting new people.
It was a somewhat turbulent start to my cycling career. The first three rides involved various broken bones, black eyes, stitches and a lot of tumbles. However, this somehow motivated me to improve; and after competing in the university games in 1999, I was addicted.
I transferred to Otago University in 2000, and became active in the mountain bike/multi-sport community, but it wasn’t until I met my then coach Kirsty Fleming, that I really started to see some results on the mountain bike. Up until then, I had only competed at the Mountain Bike Nationals once, finishing second to last in the expert class, and had felt quite demoralized by the entire experience. I have Kirsty to thank for taking me to the elite level, and eventually onto a NZ representative level in 2005.
It had always been a major goal of mine to race in Europe since the day I started riding, but I had never quite been able to figure out how to arrange or fund this. In 2004 I got some really good advice from some of NZ's best mountain bikers and started putting plans into place. However things took and unexpected turn early in the year, when I came down sick with glandular fever from overtraining and stress. I was advised by the docter to take a full year off the bike, from all racing and training. Reluctanly I took the advice, but decided to go on a four month holiday to the Highlands of Scotland – one of the bonniest places I have seen on my travels! This year off turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I formed valuable contacts and was able to cement goals for the following season.
In 2005 I started training again. I wasn't very fit after a year off, but I knew that it would only take 6 mths to get some form back, and launched myself directly into a campaign aiming to qualify for the World Mountain Bike Championships, to be hosted by NZ, in 2006.
Not having the funds to support six months of full-time racing, I found work at a local bike store in the heart of the Highlands, called Bothy Bikes (www.bothybikes.com). Quite conveniently, the store is located in Aviemore – which is only a one hour drive from Fort William (which usually hosts a round of the Mountain Bike World Cup Series each year).
It turned out to be a promising move, as Bothy Bikes were completely supportive of my cycling goals; and the location offered me the most scenic experience of the Highlands I could have asked for.
I competed for two years in Europe racing the Mountain Bike World Cups, as well as the Scottish and UK Mountain Bike Nationals, and was really excited to be selected for the NZ World Mountain Bike Championships in 2006. It was an amazing event with what felt like a million Kiwis on the track yelling their support at us.
After the World Championships finished, I approached 2007 wondering if it was a good idea to stay back in New Zealand for a while to plan for the years to follow. Two years in Europe, with a lot of plane flights and racing had seriously crippled my finances, and acted to give me the chance to re-evaluate where I was heading. I decided it was time to diversify for a while, and made the decision to give the road racing a real go. In 2008 I joined Team HPC (Powered by Altarum) in the States as a guest rider and had a total blast travelling and racing the national/international road series. For the 2009 season I raced the UK National Team Series and got the chance to return to Europe on the road. Plans are now underway for 2010 and beyond as I steer my way to bigger and better goals.
I have come to the conclusion with this sport that one of the most important factors is the word ‘persistence’. You don’t necessarily have to be the most talented person in the field; I think it comes down to having the diligence and motivation to keep pursing your goals that will eventually, and sometimes quickly, lead you to the place that you desire. It’s also compulsory to remember to have a laugh along the way with cycling and remind yourself that at the end of the day you are doing this because you love it...
