I’M A RIDER WILSON RENWICK

Injury put an end to his jockey career but this Scot is hoping to do a ‘reverse Pendleton’ and earn an elite racing licence

I have a V02 max of 90ml/kg/min. It was news to me when I found out recently. Liverpool University was doing a study three years ago looking at the fitness of jockeys and weight management. I was told you’re born with this, it’s not something you can train so much, and suggested I give endurance cycling a go. I did a bit of racing and did okay but it’s a busy life as a full-time jockey. It was only when I got injured [Market Rasen in May 2015, where he fractured vertebrae among other breaks] that I had more time to take it seriously. A jockey’s fitness regime, historically, is poor. We can’t carry weight but we managed that, typically, with a strict diet of energy drinks, cigarettes and saunas. When I first started out you wouldn’t eat, you’d smoke, and if you got to a race a bit heavy you’d go and sweat off five or six pounds. Light, yes, but not fit. It is changing now, we are becoming more like athletes and a lot is because of the work Liverpool University did. Fitness is changing the sport. I took up cycling, while others are into running. Towards the end of races I wasn’t getting as tired and my decision-making was much faster. You can’t make the horse go any faster, of course, but that clarity helps you make the right moves. Horse racing is about the horses, bike racing is about the riders. I feel more in control. When you’re a jockey it doesn’t matter how hard you try you can’t do much about it if the horse isn’t any good. In cycling, the harder I push myself the better the results. Everyone says I’ve gone from one dangerous sport to another. But you’re in more control as a cyclist, even if you can’t do anything about the other cyclists. The bike is always going to do what I tell it to. It’s only ever 70 per cent on a horse. Crashing was part of being a jockey. You learn to accept it quickly. You could have five rides in a day, fall in the first and half an hour later be back at it. You quickly learn to forget about it. It’s the same with cycling – if a pro is worried about crashing they aren’t going to get very far. I ride with the Parentini Test Team. It’s an Italian clothing brand looking to promote itself in the UK. For 2017 I’m looking to get onto a bigger UK-based team where I could ride some of the bigger races. It’s not easy to get into a team, they’re run on tight budgets and it’s a big thing to invest in someone unproven like me – I’ve only got one season under my belt. Age is bound to be against me [Renwick is 36]. I went from category four to one in a single season. If I were a junior doing that I would probably get a place relatively easily. Maybe they don’t see the potential for improvement with someone my age but what they maybe forget is that I’ve only just started racing. It’s a catch 22: you want to prove yourself in the biggest races so you can get onto a better team but to get into those races you need to be on a good team. This winter and next season is dedicated to seeing how far I can go, to try and get my elite licence. Good on Victoria Pendleton for becoming a jockey. The end of one career doesn’t mean you can’t go and do well in another. She did good. She had fantastic support behind her, with Betfair funding the whole thing and champion jockeys coaching her. Yes, she had opportunities but she took them. It’s also good that even though she achieved her goal of Cheltenham, she’s going to stay involved. There’s overlap between the two sports. Whether you’re a jockey or a rider, it’s not about controlling what others do – because you can’t – but about reacting to what they do in the right way. You have to make fast calculations. And they’re both very tactical. You don’t have to be the strongest to win if you’re able to make the right moves at the right times.

We typically managed weight with a strict diet of energy drinks, cigarettes and saunas