I’m pleased to announce that I have been selected to represent Team Scotland at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. I could not be more excited and proud to represent Scotland at a Home Games. I was born in Glasgow and my father lived there until my early teens so I have a great affinity to the city. What’s more it was the Commonwealth Games that inspired me to take up cycling in the first place. So the importance of the games in my race calendar cannot be understated, I’ll be doing everything I can to get the best results possible.
This will be my 2nd Commonwealth Games I’m looking forward to build on my results in Delhi. Looking back I’m a different athlete than I was in Delhi. As those four years have passed I’ve made great steps forward since becoming professional athlete on the GB cycling team in late 2010.
There is not much time until Glasgow and my preparation is going really well. Next week I’m off to Drei Bahnen Tournee in the west of Germany then following that I have some races lined up in Cottbus in the east of Germany. In total I will be away for around three weeks with seven days of racing looking to sharpen up and get race ready. Then for the final few weeks I will join the Scotland team in Manchester.
The rest of the Scottish Sprint Team looks very strong. Expect a bit of a show down in the Team Sprint many of us are still vying for one of the three positions available. But this internalcompetition is often healthy and should push us on the extra mile. The other big changes are that Kevin Stewart who was my teammate in Delhi is now the sprint coach. I know Kevin very well and I have got to know many of the new faces following the Scottish warm weather camp early this year. I can’t wait to meet up with them in Manchester and compete with them in Glasgow.
Unfortunately I could not make the team announcement today. With travelling to Germany next week and being in a very heavy training block in Manchester this week to get the best out of my preparation I decided with my coach that it was best not to attend.