The Great Britain Transplant Cycling team has just returned from the 2017 edition of the World Transplant Games held in Malaga, Spain from 26th June to 2nd July. The 21st running of the event saw us meet up with a lot of old friends who we’ve been racing with for years and make some new ones too. In truth, it’s always gratifying to see our old rivals – it means they too have enjoyed another couple of healthy, happy years living life and riding bikes. By doing this we all reaffirm what these games are all about – demonstrating the success of organ donation and transplantation through competitive sport
However, in the heat of competition, ones attention tends to be drawn momentarily away from the big picture towards a more urgent search for new holes to breathe through as you try to drag the last ounce of effort from your legs to knock a second or two off your time for the 5k time trial. The WTGF introduced this event for the 2003 games in Nancy, France – their thinking was a short time trial would be an easier prelude to the road race. It’s not. It’s brutal. Absolutely brutal. 7 mins of lactic induced unmitigated suffering.
We travelled to Spain knowing that beating any of our previous medals hauls would be unlikely. Our best effort to date being Durban, South Africa where we won 22 medals including 9 of the most shiny. Remarkably, we topped this with 10 gold medals out of a total of 20 this time.
A quick peak under the skin of this statistic reveals that 9 of these medals were won by women or junior riders with only one being won by a senior man. Yes, this represents the constantly increasing standard of competition in the senior men's categories but should not take anything away from the fantastic performances of the women and the youth. In fact, had younger riders been eligible to ride the road race and the team time trial, the GBTx medal tally would likely have been that much higher.
However, in the heat of competition, ones attention tends to be drawn momentarily away from the big picture towards a more urgent search for new holes to breathe through as you try to drag the last ounce of effort from your legs to knock a second or two off your time for the 5k time trial. The WTGF introduced this event for the 2003 games in Nancy, France – their thinking was a short time trial would be an easier prelude to the road race. It’s not. It’s brutal. Absolutely brutal. 7 mins of lactic induced unmitigated suffering.
We travelled to Spain knowing that beating any of our previous medals hauls would be unlikely. Our best effort to date being Durban, South Africa where we won 22 medals including 9 of the most shiny. Remarkably, we topped this with 10 gold medals out of a total of 20 this time.
A quick peak under the skin of this statistic reveals that 9 of these medals were won by women or junior riders with only one being won by a senior man. Yes, this represents the constantly increasing standard of competition in the senior men's categories but should not take anything away from the fantastic performances of the women and the youth. In fact, had younger riders been eligible to ride the road race and the team time trial, the GBTx medal tally would likely have been that much higher.
Gavin Giles and Rich Smith with Esben Rost
 Luke 'the legend' Alexander |  Lydia Mellen |
Gold medal time trial performances from youngsters Esben Rost, Luke Alexander and Lydia Mellen got the team off to a great start and were quickly backed up by a truly dominating performance by team captain Ottilie Quince putting incredible 44 seconds in to the second placed rider.
Captain Quince in full on TT mode
Over the 5k course, Su Tarling and Diana Higman consolidated their standings as preeminent riders in the 40 – 50 and 50-60 age category backing up their double gold medals from Argentina in 2015. The ever reliable Fidelma Hodkinson and Zoe Dixon picked up bronze and silver respectively with new girl Ella Gibson contributing a bronze in her first world games.
Di, Otts, Su, Ella and Zoe
On the men’s side, team coach Rich Smith won gold in the time trial by a single second from Dutchman Erik Pul and new boy Sean Rintoul grabbed a hard won and creditable bronze medal in the very competitive 40-50 age category at his first games. Bob Jolliffe added a silver medal in the 60-70 bracket.
Newcomer Mike Oliver was fourth in Smith’s category with Declan Logue putting in a personal best to finish 9th and heart transplant recipient, the Flying Scotsman, Steve Donaldson 11th. Gavin Giles was 7th in the 40-50 age category.
Newcomer Mike Oliver was fourth in Smith’s category with Declan Logue putting in a personal best to finish 9th and heart transplant recipient, the Flying Scotsman, Steve Donaldson 11th. Gavin Giles was 7th in the 40-50 age category.
Rich Smith finishing off the time trial
This year, the organisers had added a 3-rider team time trial to the event, contested by 12 teams over 20 kilometres. GBR Team 1 comprised Gavin Giles, Rich Smith and Ottilie Quince who placed 5th overall and first mixed team (no medal but a creditable result) with GBR Team 2 (Declan Logue, Bob Jolliffe and Steve Donaldson) finishing 10th. The teams had a blast! It was a great event to watch and gives us plenty to work on. The Dutch team reigned supreme with the Italians and Spanish joining them on the podium.
 Gav on the front of the team time trial team |  GBR in flight |
Day 2 of the cycling event was the now extended 30km road race with the women off first. Under strict instructions to sit in for the first few laps, Ottilie Quince was struggling to look anything but slightly bored for the early part of the race but set things alight on the last but one lap by putting in a single blistering attack and establishing a significant gap which she used to solo in for another dominant win.
Not to be out done, Su Tarling and Diana Higman finished off the bunch sprit to capture double gold medals with Zoe Dixon and Fidelma Hodkinson adding two bronze. Ella Gibson came home with an excellent silver going one better than her time trial result from the previous day.
Not to be out done, Su Tarling and Diana Higman finished off the bunch sprit to capture double gold medals with Zoe Dixon and Fidelma Hodkinson adding two bronze. Ella Gibson came home with an excellent silver going one better than her time trial result from the previous day.
Otts coming over the line to win once more
 Di, Otts and Su post road race |  Ella flying the flag |
Creditable performances in the men’s road race came from Declan, Steve and Sean, all finishing in the bunch with Gavin Giles enjoying a lap out in front of the field with a brave attack that, although ultimately coming to nothing, showed off the jersey and proved what a strong rider he is. Special mention should go to the Flying Scotsman Steve Donaldson who was not only the fastest heart transplant recipient in the time trial, but busted everything he had to hold a fast moving bunch in the road race.
Bob Jolliffe picked up a worthy bronze in the competitive 60-70 age category.
Bob Jolliffe picked up a worthy bronze in the competitive 60-70 age category.
 Sean on the start line for the road race |  Gavin Giles ready to go |
In what was described as the pick of the races to watch, Dutchman Erik Pull animated the 50-60 age category men’s race from the gun and established a four man break with GBR's Mike Oliver, Rich Smith and Italian sprinter Ermmano Manenti. Manenti managed to escape the break to take the win with Smith 3rd and Mike Oliver an agonising 4th for the second time in two days. A great first games for Mike, narrowly missing the podium in a very competitive category.
 Rich, Mike, Erik and Ermmano working hard in the break |  The 4 man break |
In summary, our best performance ever medal-wise with 20 in total 10 gold, 3 silver and 7 bronzes. This masks a couple of things we are looking forward to working on over the two years prior to the next World Games in Newcastle 2019, namely, the development of our team time trial teams and the progression of the senior men’s categories. The 30-40 male category in particular where we have no representation to take the battle to Nate Dunn, the flying American, who is dominating this slot. Of course, this must happen in conjunction with the continued expansion and development of the junior and women’s side of the team.
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With the racing all done, we had a chance to catch up with friends in the GB team and our cycling friends from around the world. It was gratifying to see how other teams had developed, particularly our Dutch friends, who were kind enough to say they had modelled their team on ours.
With some breath back in our lungs it really was time to reflect on our purpose for attending these games - to encourage people to join the organ donor register and to show how you can grab hold of a second chance at life so, if you haven’t already, please sign up because it really does save lives!
With some breath back in our lungs it really was time to reflect on our purpose for attending these games - to encourage people to join the organ donor register and to show how you can grab hold of a second chance at life so, if you haven’t already, please sign up because it really does save lives!
Mike Oliver and Declan Logue catch their breath
Finally, if you are interested in our team in any capacity - potential racing member, supporter or sponsor, please get in touch - preparation for future games starts now!
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