Tracey is relatively new to the sport and comes from a marathon running background. After a few discussions about what might suit her and her lifestyle Donna and Tracey agreed they would target the recent 2018 XCO National Championships in Armidale. We caught up with Tracey just after her National XCO Race where she came a credible second place in Masters Women.
1) How were you introduced to Mountain Biking? By accident! And at the young age of 39!! End of 2016 we moved to a new area that was host to some pretty amazing bike paths and tracks so my husband decided to buy he and myself bikes for Christmas that year. I actually didn’t want a bike, and was annoyed that this was what I was getting for Christmas and didn’t ride it for almost a month in protest. Reluctantly, one day I dragged it out of the shed and went for a ride, I kind of liked it, so went again the next day too, then started planning where I would go next time…. I was hooked! At this point I was on a very cheap Mountain bike and only riding bike paths and fire roads/rail trails but riding 4 times a week. I wanted to get more off road and onto the singletrack so I upgraded my bike in May and joined a beginners MTB group ride once a week. After a couple of Months of riding with this group I was beginning to want more, more challenging trails, different places to ride etc but had trouble connecting with other groups and wasn’t keen to go on my own. I decided the way to get around this was to start entering organised events. I entered my first MTB race in November, 11 Months after getting my first bike and again, was completely hooked, I loved the atmosphere at the event, loved the thrill of racing, loved the pain of pushing my limits and was in awe of how fast the leading girls were….. I walked away from that race with a clear plan, I was going to get a coach, train hard, learn the skills I needed, and become as fast as those leading girls! So, I got myself the best coach I could find….. Donna!
2) How long have you been training with PCS? I started training with Donna in the December 2016 after this first event, so about 14 Months.
3) What have been your best achievements to date? One of my greatest achievements would be coming 2nd at the Buxton Bootcamp last November as this was the event I entered 12 Months earlier as my first race, so to come back the following year and come 2nd was awesome, seeing the progress I had made in a year was amazing and inspired me to continue to work harder. Coming 3rd in the Kowalski Classic 100km in October was also a great result and recently winning the XCO State Championship in Masters 3/4, my first win in a bike race! I also came 2nd in Masters 3 at my first ever XCO National Champs in Armidale in February 2018.
4) What are you short term goals (6-12 months)? My short-term goals are to race the 2018/19 National XCO series
5) What are your long-term goals? Long term goals are to win a National XCO championship (Masters) and then go to World Masters Champs!
6) What do you like about training with Donna from PCS? Absolutely everything! She is the Best! I thinks its incredible how much time and effort she has spent getting to know me, not just as her athlete but overall as a person, something I know she does with EVERYONE! She has taken the time to understand all my unique traits, my strengths and the areas I struggle with, and in doing so has been able to quickly work out what works for me and how I respond to different training loads and sessions. Donna understands the outside pressures and commitments we all have and knows how to perfectly balance our training so that we can get the most out of ourselves in the time we have available to train. Her knowledge and expertise doesn’t stop with her precision to tailoring our training schedules though, she has been fantastic at helping me fine tune my pre-race routines, get my race nutrition dialled and help me manage the demands of travelling. Donna is always incredibly calm and positive when it comes to dealing with the emotions, we, as athletes deal with throughout the ups and downs of training and racing. In the good times she knows how to motivate us to work harder and keep pushing and times of struggle she knows exactly how to help us turn things around and get back on track! Donna is so easy to work with and we have been able to build a great relationship even though I’m all the way down in Melbourne. I have complete faith in Donna as my coach and I know that together we can achieve all the goals we have our sights set on!