I am a year 13 student at Palmerston North Girls High School and have achieved NCEA levels 1 and 2 with merit in the last 2 years. My schooling has been very hard due to the number of hours of training my sport requires weekly both on the bike and with gym sessions, so the need to be well organised is very important.

I started cycling as a late 13 year old due to patella tendon problems I had been suffering from running and growing, first trying triathlon but finding a love of being on the bike. The switch to cycling has brought a lot of challenges as its a very hard sport with hours a week spent cycling around the roads in all weather conditions and those hills (what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger). But it has also been very rewarding especially the friendships and bonds we form in our cycling teams which our school and regional teams have worked hard on.

Over the last few years I have been very successful with a number of Gold Medal Performances including 2 Oceania Titles ( October 2015 ) and 11 National Road and Track Titles including 3 NZ Records. I don’t believe I have been lucky as 95% is your own doing and probably 5% luck and as long as you love what you are doing and have a goal you are a good chance to succeed as long as you put in the work.

I have goals and this NZ Team selection was one of them with the next being to be wearing Gold at the end of this Event and that is my training motivation presently. I want to give myself the best chance I can to Represent NZ at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and I know I will be quite young and its a longshot but its not unachievable.

I try to give a lot back to Cycling and am part of the Leadership group in our region for younger cyclists at our school and club and ride with them as often as I can. I hope my performances and achievements helps them to love the sport and see what you can achieve in the sport with some passion and hard work.

My parents have been kind enough to support me with funding an expensive sport over the last few years as well as with equipment upgrades to be competitive at this level of competition in the last 8 months. Over this period I have needed $8500 worth of new wheels and a larger size bike as well as travel and accommodation to events to enable me to compete and gain selection to represent New Zealand at these Championships.

EMILY HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR THE WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPS IN SWITZERLAND

HIGHEST SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS

SPORTING GOALS

Represent NZ at the 2018 Commonwealth Games