Former Mount Aspiring College student Ellesse Andrews has been selected to represent New Zealand at the Olympics in Japan next year.

World class race cyclist Ellesse, who is now based at the high performance cycling hub in Cambridge, was told she had been named in the Olympic Track Cycling team a couple of months ago but had to keep quiet until the team was officially announced yesterday (November 18).  

“I am so honoured to be selected for the games next year. Olympic selection has always been a dream of mine,” she said. “I am proud to be following in the footsteps of my dad who was a competitor in the Barcelona games’. 

“Riding and racing my bike is my most favourite thing to do.” 

Ellesse is one of four sprinters, and the only female, to be selected for track sprinting events and will be riding in the Keirin (racing in a slipstream behind a motorcycle at a medium pace until the last two laps when the motorcycle departs and the riders sprint to the finish line) and the individual sprints.

Ellesse celebrates her win at the 2017 world championships in Italy with parents Angela Mote-Andrews and Jon Andrews. PHOTO: Supplied

Much of her previous success has been in endurance team and individual pursuits, but in 2019 she switched to sprints “and I have been loving it ever since,” she said. 

“Track sprinting is very different from endurance, in both the training and racing. The racers are faster and shorter, with training to suit the more explosive nature of the sport.”  

Ellesse has competed at world class level for several years, including winning gold in the Keirin at the 2020 Oceania champs held late 2019 - “a sprinting highlight”- and representing New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the individual pursuit and time trial.

At age 17, Ellesse won gold in the junior women’s individual pursuit at the UCI Junior World Track Cycling championships held in Italy in 2017, beating the local Italian favourite and setting a world record while she was at it. She was also part of the team pursuit that won the silver medal at the same championships.

The year before that she won the bronze medal in the individual pursuit at the world championships in Switzerland 2016, as well as taking gold with team-mate Emma Cumming in the team sprint.

With the switch back to sprints her cycling career has come full circle.

She said her training at the high performance hub has been going well and she’s happy with her progress. She trains full time but also attends Waikato University part time on a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship where the staff have helped her balance study and training. 

Her training has been impacted by COVID-19 as race training overseas was planned. Instead training through lockdown had provided some interesting challenges.

“Motivation was something that I had to be conscious of, and it was difficult to keep training with maximal intent without the support of team mates and support staff/coaches.”

“I was lucky enough to be locked down with my family, so when I felt like I needed a training buddy, there was always someone willing to join - we all love riding,” she said.

With the goal of the Olympics motivation over the next nine months shouldn’t be a problem. “My goals are set and my objectives are clear, so that come race day, I will be in the best possible position mentally and physically to race toward that gold medal,” she said. 

“My connection with Wanaka is still strong, having grown up and started my cycling career there on the local roads and tracks,” Ellesse said. 

Wanaka’s Racers Edge “has always been a go to for my family for anything cycling related, and I am grateful to have their support now”.

“The town will always feel a bit like home.”