Wrexham track cyclist Ellen Hunter and partner Aileen McGlynn continue to stake their claim on gold at next year’s Paralympics and have issued a clear warning to their Beijing rivals.
The pairing – who are already world record holders – have caused waves after breaking the magical 1.10 barrier in the kilo time trial at the first-ever Pan-American ParaCycling Championships in Columbia.
Stopping the clock at 1.09.928 – they bettered the world record time they set in Bordeaux this year at the IPC World Championships. However, the incredible ride does not stand as a new world record as the track in Columbia has not yet been ratified by the UCI – the world governing body for cycling.
Yet, the time demonstrates the sheer strength of this duo on the high speed boards of the Velodrome and augurs extremely well for Beijing next year.
The Great Britain team is in the city of Cali in Columbia as it is the final event in which qualification points can be gathered for places at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
As World Champions, McGlynn and Hunter were off last and they sat and watched eight other tandems come and go, some of which really struggled to keep the tandem down in the tight bankings of the Cali Track.
As the Brits took to the start line, the German tandem of Fuchs and Jhon were in the hot seat having posted a time of 1.14.6 with the American pairing less than a tenth behind.
McGlynn and Hunter started strongly and were quickly up to a very impressive speed and, as they hit the 500m point, there was an audible gasp from the crowd as the scoreboard showed that they were over two seconds up on the Germans with a time of 37.2.
National Coach Chris Furber explained, “Ellen continued to pilot the tandem brilliantly around the black line of the tight track and Aileen kept the power down all the way to the line.”
Hunter is a pilot rider to McGlynn who is partially sighted. They took gold and silver in Athens 2004 yet the mere appearance of the Wrexham woman at these Games was remarkable as she had broken her back not long before.
During her six weeks in hospital, she read multi-winning Tour De France champion, Lance Armstrong’s autobiography which, she claims, provided her with the strength and courage to be a better and stronger cyclist than ever before.
Hunter is just one of a crop of Welsh cyclists who are making major strides on the sport. In August, she was one of three riders to become double world champions at the UCI Para-Cycling Championships in Bordeaux. Swansea’s Jody Cundy and Pembrokeshire’s Rachel Morris also proved that they are names to note in the Chinese capital next September.
