Virus puts a spoke in Ashley’s wheel
A GOLD Coast teenager is set to miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime after coronavirus precautions forced the cancellation of the Australian qualifiers for the BMX world titles in the US.
Livingstone Christian College student Ashley Willard, 16, finished fourth in the cruiser-class event at the 2019 BMX Australia national titles and was expected to better that result in 2020 and gain automatic qualification for the world titles in Texas.
Three days ago that dream came to an abrupt halt as officials were forced to postpone the final stage of qualification in Launceston, Tasmania, indefinitely.
Now, the teenager star must find the motivation to continue training in isolation – with no idea of when she might race again.
“For (the national championships) not to happen, it’s much like an injury; it’s something out of your control and that’s the hardest part,” she said.
“It’s distressing because I’m very planned and organised and I’d mapped out mentally what I’d do in order to perform at my best.
“I’ve put in a lot of training building up confidence and skills, and especially in the last few weeks I’ve been training really intensely.
“It’s like everyone is blind at the moment. No one knows when the worlds will be or if there will be a qualifying event or they choose off last year’s qualifiers.
“For me it would have been such a great experience but I was also quite understanding, eventually.
“It’s for the safety and everyone and with the COVID-19 situation it would have been better with the event cancelled rather than all ending sick or stranded in Tasmania.”