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Full Circle -

Joanna Rowsell-Shand

I’ve been a bit slow getting through books

later – no commute with time to fill in for
one thing. But I’m glad I took the time to
read Joanna Rowsell-Shand’s auto-
biography. Those of you who were at our
Open 10 a few years ago may remember
that she won the Women’s event and was

chatting to people in the Hall afterwards,
patiently answering questions. I think at
the time she’d just won her first team pursuit world title in
Manchester, which I’d watched, but she was a very modest and
unassuming young woman – confident in her own abilities but no

big ego. I thought at the time she deserved to do even better and
I’ve taken pleasure watching her win more titles and successfully
dip her toe in the waters of commentating.

The book is very much in the same vein as that set of
conversations in the flesh and re-inforces the view of a really nice,

but very determined, person. Obviously her cycling career forms
the thread that links the elements of the book but it’s very much
her story from initial identification by British Cycling as a “talent”
through to her eventual decision to retire relatively early. Unlike
Victoria Pendleton’s autobiography, which is a bit dark in places,

Joanna’s is consistently upbeat and self-effacing. She describes
the disaster that was her initial training event (off-road) with BC
and it’s sobering to think that she didn’t start riding seriously
until 13 years old and that her first time on the track (at Newport

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