In the genes: a dynasty of racers
No other cycling family has a trophy cabinet so chock-full of precious metal – but how much of the Jameses’s prolific winning is down to gold-plated genes? asks Chris Marshall-bell
How similar are you to your brother or sister? If you’re lucky enough to have a sibling, it’s a question you’ve probably been asked countless times. While it’s not uncommon for siblings to share certain sporting traits, it is extraordinary for five siblings from one family to all become high-achievers in the same sport. But that’s precisely the story of the Jameses.
Hailing from the Monmouthshire town of Abergavenny in Wales, the James household counts 69 national medals across three disciplines of cycling between four sisters: Rachel, Becky, Ffion and Megan. Twenty-nineyear-old Becky, the quiet and reserved sister, won two Olympic silver medals at Rio 2016, four years after she won national team sprint gold with Rachel, the energetic eldest, now 32. Rachel went on to win two golds, piloting Sophie Thornhill at the 2014 Para-cycling Track World Championships.
Equally energetic Ffion, 23, fits in her training around studying natural sciences at Cambridge University. The only sister still competing today, Ffion won the Cyclo-cross National Trophy Series in 2019. Fearless and happy-golucky Megan won two rounds of the 2017 junior downhill MTB World Cup, but quit cycling that same year, aged 17, and is now studying geography at King’s College London. There is a fifth sister, Bethan, 24, who has been severely disabled since birth and requires round-the-clock care.
The James sisters’ mother Christine, a former Welsh veteran cyclocross champion, still races with Abergavenny RC. Their father Dai is a former rugby player, while their brother Gareth, 31, raced the Youth Tour of Assen for Wales.
We sat down (virtually) with Rachel, Becky, Ffion and Megan for the third instalment of CW’S ‘In the Genes’ series, to explore how much of their shared talent for cycling is down to their genetic inheritance, as against the influence of their shared environment.
Cycling Weekly: How important was cycling while you were growing up?
Rachel: I’m the odd one out because my childhood had nothing at all to do with cycling. As the eldest, I was really into horses, and only started cycling when Becks and Gareth did, and even then, only started properly when I was 23.
Becky: Gareth and I brought it into the family when I was 11. I was in an afterschool cycling club and the coach said I was really talented – probably because I was very tall and looked 16! I did my first race, beat all the boys and there was no stopping me from there.
Megan: Thanks to Becks, it was basically my whole childhood. I first raced aged four and didn’t think about much else until I stopped. It was my entire life – all I wanted to do.
Ffion: I don’t remember a time when the family wasn’t super into cycling. My first race was aged five.
CW: Were any of you that person who is good at all sports in school?
Becky: Rachel was that!
Megan: Yeah probably me, too.
Ffion: I’d say annoyingly for everyone else, the whole family is that person!
Becky: I wasn’t as good all-round because I was a sprint athlete. But you three were just great at everything.
Rachel: I didn’t cycle but I did every other sport.
Megan: Same. I played football, judo, and went dry-slope snowboarding. I just loved every sport.
Ffion: My PE teacher wanted me to do every sport, and I was on most teams. When you’re strong, fit and competitive, you’re going to be good at most sports, and I think we’re all pretty talented. Especially Rachel – she’s good at any sport she tries.
CW: Do you all have a similar body type?
Megan: I’d say we all have powerful legs, except Ffion who is taller. Rachel and I have a big build. I think us siblings are fairly similar, but Mum and Dad are shorter and stronger.
Rachel: Myself, Ffion and Meg have a similar body type, and are similar in height, but Ffion is really skinny.
Becky: I’m the short one in the family. Rachel: But you’ve got the leg strength. Your height went onto your legs instead. I’ve tried to say that without it sounding too horrendous!
Becky: I think my legs now are probably the same size as when I was racing.
Growing up, men would always tell me I had big legs – even as a toddler, I had chunky legs. It must be genetic. CW: Are you sprint or endurance athletes?
Rachel: I haven’t got a single bit of endurance in my body.
CW: Hang on, you cycled across the USA in 2018...
Rachel: [laughs] That’s true, but that was all-day touring pace riding. I can sustain high power for six seconds at a time, and that’s it. I am as far removed from the endurance speciality in cycling as I could be. At school, I was always last in cross-country races but first in the 100m.
“We knew in school we had the sprint genes”
Becky: I’m the same as Rachel. I’d be terrible in long-distance races but win the 100m and 200m. I think we knew in school we had the sprint genes. You can train to be an endurance athlete, to a certain level, but Rachel and I could never be good endurance athletes.
I was a sprinter through and through from day one.
Megan: I’d race road, cyclo-cross, mountain biking and be good for 20 minutes and then I was done. Sprinting genes for me.
Ffion: I’m definitely different. I was always much better at cross-country running, whereas in a crit race I would never win a sprint like them. I’m naturally better at endurance and couldn’t be a sprinter if I tried, although I do have some sprinting ability that has helped a little bit in cyclo-cross.
Megan: I think the endurance genes have gone to Ffion and Gareth, and came from Mum. Dad provides the power and sprint genes.
CW: What about your ability to build muscle?
Rachel: It comes quite easily for me. Ffion: Not for me. Rach is naturally so much stronger than I am, and maintains it even if she doesn’t train.
Becky: I’m similar. I’ve not trained properly in a few years, but if I did, the mass would come back really quickly.
Rachel: At British Cycling, I struggled with a high training load. Too much volume would put me in a hole I’d struggle to get out of. It’d make me really slow and rubbish.
Becky: I was the same. I preferred specific training to high volume. From a young age, it was drilled into me that when you’re not training, you sit down, chill and rest. Rach and I were very good at putting our feet up and doing nothing when we lived together in Manchester.
CW: Were your power figures good?
Megan: I did my first ever FTP today! It seemed like a laugh but it was anything but – it was absolutely horrible. My power wasn’t the best and my average heart rate was 205bpm for 20 minutes.
Rachel: Power is how I got into cycling. Becky asked me to give cycling a go, I got tested and it was because I put out decent power straight away that I ended up getting in with Welsh Cycling.
Becky: From the talent team testing days, my sprinting power was always really high and my endurance tests were very poor.
Ffion: I got picked up by the GB junior programme because of my skills, not power. It was my descending, bike-handling and technical skills that helped me. My peak power is probably half theirs, but if we did a longer race I’d be better than them.
CW: What is your preferred type of training?
Rachel: Short and sharp. A few standing starts and that’s it.
Megan: If it’s hard and intense, I just want to get it done!
Becky: I’m like Rach. A morning gym session, and then something behind the motorbike where the legs are flying – you’ve got good speed, high power, high cadence, a bit of everything.
Ffion: I’m so very different to you lot! I prefer a big, allday adventure, little intensity but long miles.
“Our parents’ genetics have definitely helped”
CW: Are you all competitive?
Ffion: Rachel is the most.
Becky: Yep, agree. Megan: I had to win in cycling, but Rachel is competitive about anything. Rachel: [laughs] Do you reckon?
Ffion: If we were playing a board game now, you would 100 per cent have to win. Megan: Totally. She would have to win it. Rachel: You’re right. I hate to lose. Ffion: Although, Megs, you have to win everything too.
Becky: I’m happy to be the quiz master. Rachel: You’re super-competitive in cycling, Becks, but outside, not so much. Becky: True.
CW: Does this competitiveness come from being part of a big sporting family, do you think? Megan: Growing up around siblings, it’s hard not to be competitive.
Becky: I think it’s down to personality as well.
Rachel: I’m not convinced we were that competitive growing up. I don’t remember me, Becky and Gareth being like that against each other. I think the competitiveness came from outside the family, from other things we did.
The Jameses have mum Christine and dad Dai to thank for a portion of their sporting prowess
Becky: Maybe when we grew up it wasn’t like that, but now in the family it’s “Strava this, Strava that”.
Ffion: Mum and Dad are constantly looking at Strava, and Mum will come back from a ride checking how many QOMS she has got. CW: So what has played a bigger role, nature or nurture?
Rachel: With me [as the eldest], you can’t say it was my upbringing that gave me success, so it has to be down to genetics to a certain extent. I didn’t excel in any sport until I took up cycling, so genetics has played a big part.
Becky: For the five of us to ride at a really high standard, and for none of us except Ffion and Megan to have ridden
since we were young, I think it shows that it’s definitely in the genes for all of us to be half-decent at it.
Megan: Our parents’ genetics have definitely helped – just look at Mum now. Have you seen how good she is?
Ffion: I think if Mum raced when she was younger, she would have been very good. It’s hard to tell if it has come from our parents, but they were definitely talented.
Becky: If they’d cycled when they were young, Dad would definitely have been a sprinter and Mum an endurance rider.
Ffion: So, basically, I’ve got Mum’s genes and you three have got Dad’s?
Everyone: [laughs]
Rachel: I think we showed from a young age we were heading in the right direction.