The end of a gruelling nine-month long season may be in sight but Disley’s Dame Sarah Storey admits she will be squeezing out every ounce of remaining energy to star at this week’s Six Day London.
While Six Day racing is returning to the English capital for the first time since 1980, spectators at Lee Valley VeloPark will also be handed another treat, with women’s racing also taking centre stage.
Six-time Paralympic cycling champion Storey and her rivals will be in action from Wednesday onwards with competition across the points, elimination and scratch races.
Storey herself is certainly no stranger to the venue, having won two of her four London 2012 golds on the track while in February of this year she fell just short of breaking the women’s hour record there.
She did, however,set a new British and Paralympic C5 best and the 37-year-old admits she can’t wait to get back on the boards in front of the home fans once again.
“I’m really excited for Six Day London, this will be my first opportunity to compete in Six Day racing so it’s something completely new for me,” she said.
“This time I’m not going to riding around all on my own as was the case for the hour record bid but with teammates and other cyclists.
“The atmosphere for the record bid and for London 2012 amazing and this is going to be something different too – a bit like a night club atmosphere with cycling as the entertainment.
“It’s the very end of my season, it’s been a long one as I started at the end of January in preparation for the hour bid and then have gone through the summer.
“My season would actually have finished this week but with Six Day London, I was more than happy to extend it by a few days and hopefully I can finish it off on a successful note.”
Storey will take a well-earned rest after the conclusion of Six Day London before building back up to next year where she will bid for glory at Rio 2016 as well as supporting her Podium Ambition road cycling team which will turn professional.
And Britain’s most successful female Paralympian – she has also previously won five golds in the pool – believes women’s cycling has never been in a better position.
“Next year I’m going to be building up for Rio and then my team is also turning professional so that will take up a huge amount of my time,” she added.
“The great thing about women’s cycling at the moment is that it is as big as it has ever been in Britain.
“You can see by the fact that women are included in this year’s Six Day London.
“I’ve been very fortunate that the whole time I’ve been included in cycling for the last ten years, women’s cycling has been going up and up. And events like Six Day London are only going to help with that.”
Six Day London is at Lee Valley VeloPark between 18-23 Oct – tickets on sale at www.sixday.com. Come and see the world’s best track cyclists in action and be part of an electric party atmosphere at London’s Olympic Velodrome.
Image courtesy of British Cycling via YouTube, with thanks.
