Annie Last Interview - Olympic Hopeful

Images & Words Joolze Dymond.

Months can go into planning a major campaign, only to find your path to glory littered with mud, sweat and possibly broken gears. Each time you have to dust yourself off and bounce back ready for more and this takes a special type of determined athlete. 

Annie Last can be considered a fantastic example.

For nearly a decade this quietly ambitious woman from Matlock has been dedicating herself to achieving acclaimed success in this sport, whilst also not neglecting academic studies. There has been over the ensuing years a fine balance between training, racing and studying, one that has left her in times frustrated with what she has seen as a lack of 'proper' training yet despite this she has racked up an impressive race palmar along the way including, multiple National Champion titles and 2 silver medals in the U23 World Championships along with an impressive list of qualifications! This is one young woman who never lets the grass grow under her feet and aims to be the best at everything she undertakes. Now at the age of 21 she is a regular top ten finisher at World Cups, has a professional contract (and her own team in effect) with Milka-Brentjens and is about to step onto the Olympic stage, with a real chance of grabbing a medal.

Annie entered the sport at the age of 11 by unconventional means, when her older brother had a bet with her that would lead her away from an involvement with the equine world and into the harsh environment of cyclo cross and cross country racing.

"I started with CX racing when I was about 11, I just went along as my brother was racing and he had a bet that if I rode a race he'd ride a horse. So I thought yeah why not!

Needless to say I won the bet hands down and although he sat on my pony for about 2 mins, that doesn't really count!"

That little sibling ribbing has led to a blossoming career that now finds Annie a dedicated athlete who is on her way to making a considerable mark on the international stage. 

We caught up with her a couple of months ago to catch up and chat about the up coming Olympic games.

AL: No when I started riding, I quickly got swept up into racing and training, then got onto the Talent Team, Olympic Development Program and Academy, to now doing this as a full time job, but I never thought I'd get a chance to head to the Olympics. I've always wanted to be the best I could be at my chosen sport and luckily my best seems to be leading me to represent GB at the home games.

AL: I already had a two-year contract to use Boardman bikes, which is great as the bikes are excellent and I get to put a lot of feedback into their development. In 2012, Bart Brentjens wanted me to ride for his team but he already had a bike sponsor so to be able to ride for him, a separate team had to be set up for me, with no bike sponsor. It works well as I'm part of the Milka team as well as riding my Boardman. Having both Chris Boardman and Bart Bjetens involved with my career can only be a good thing!

AL: I'll be riding a newer version of my B56, a carbon hardtail 26er. I've always ridden a hard tail and I find them perfect for racing on. It's easier to get your maximal power through a hardtail and also as it's a short race, I'm fit and strong enough to get through the technical sections without any issues. If I were out riding all day then yes of course I'd opt for the full sus. It's just nice to chill out a bit now and then.

I'm not that tall so a 26er fits me perfectly, my position is spot on. I tried a 29er just to be sure and it never felt right for me. I personally can't see any difference when racing against riders on 29ers. Maybe over the bumps n stuff but overall I think its just horses for courses�

AL: Sometimes I feel the pressure but all you have to do is put it to the back of your mind and just do your best. That is my ultimate motivation, to do my best�

For me its been a real slog, I've had to work really hard to earn the right to go, this means racing all over the world racking up enough points to earn that spot. Fortunately it's worked out pretty well and I can only hope things keep going in this direction! 

I definitely think there is potential for me to medal, it is a big ask, but I will do my best on the day, that's all I can do. 

AL: Pretty much everything I'm doing is focused on doing a good ride at the games, but that motivates me as a mountain biker, I like the physical demands required of me.  The Olympic course is also very similar to how World Cup courses are these days; shorter, more powerful and technical so really I'm not doing anything any different to what I'd normally be doing.

My base fitness has been built up over the last couple of years and on top of that I've been working on my explosive power, plus I've been working on my body core strength to help me ride well without tiring too much over the distance required.

There is also the bike handling aspect, you have to be able to ride each section really well. Leading up to the race my race specific fitness will be worked on. It's not just about doing so many efforts say, but being able to follow a wheel and squeeze out every single ounce you may have in reserves if and when you need it. You also need to be able to respond to attacks and know when to back off to enable to recover, ready to go again at a moments notice or to enable you to pass another rider or make an attack yourself. The best way to condition yourself for this is by racing.

You also have to prepare mentally of course. Some days are easier than others but you know you just have to get on with it. You have to be careful not to build something out of all proportion. With the Olympics you could psyche yourself out with all the pressure of expectations, home soli, once in a life time etc., but you just have to keep reminding yourself at the end of the day its just another race and all you can do is your best as I said before. Yes it is a once in a lifetime opportunity but you do your best at every race you do and you can't do any better than that so there is no point beating yourself up. You just have to focus on each step that will get you to be your best.

We get help with psychiatrists they help you focus on your aims and how to get there I'm pretty good with my own focus, I have to talk to myself occasionally but that's just one of those things! But if I do have a particular problem I cant work out I can go to the psychiatrist and talk it through in a scientific way to find a way through the problem. If you keep telling yourself something negative or keep winding yourself up about things it helps that someone can come and tell you, your doing this because XYZ and that makes it so much easier to understand and work out.

AL: Well of course the current World Champ, Catherine Pendrel, she's riding really well already this year and the Olympics are a big aim for her. Then there is Maja Wloszczowska (ed-maja now out injured)  and Julie Bresset of course. I think they may be the ones to beat on the day. There will be a lot more up there as well, you don't really know where people are in the grand scheme of things until you get to the Olympics and as this is my first games, it'll be a big learning curve.  At the moment some riders are at their absolute peak, as they want to be selected, some others are racing just to score points just to get to the event, and those that are already selected are pacing their form a lot slower than others. We won't know till the day how it will all unfold!

AL: I think there is an element of both in there but that's important to enable the spectator to get 'involved' in the racing. If the racing seems exciting to the viewer then it can only help more people to get interested in the sport. It needs to be accessible and easy for the general public to see the racing and what the sport is about. If people who aren't die hard fans were to go to a course where you only saw a tiny bit of the race and you had to walk miles to see anything else then they probably would lose interest in the sport quite quickly. If we can get more people interested then the sport should grow, so I think its important to make the course spectator friendly whilst not forgetting that it has to be a real challenge for the riders and I think they have that balance just right at Hadleigh.

For the rider the course is just relentless, there are no massive climbs or descents and the technical sections are all pretty short, I think it will a race that will be the constant full gas approach for the whole race, this will take its toll on the riders helping to decide the outcome. Fitness and endurance will be important along with power, you are constantly swapping one effort for another, straight from a short climb into a tech descent, never ending switchbacks so it will be a very wearing down race.

The technical sections do have a lot of room to make mistakes on them, so the race could be won or lost on them. The new Rock Garden feature is a great addition; riders will be able to pick their way past less confident riders and make up time.

It'll be an interesting place to watch the race!

AL: A good start is a necessity, whether it's an Olympic race or not, putting yourself into the race from the beginning is important. If you're in the front of the race you then have a clear run at technical sections, which is a real advantage as you can avoid other riders making possible mistakes.

You just have to ride the technical sections smoothly, focusing on your lines, not just to get that fraction of a faster line but more to focus on coming out of each section well without damaging your bike. It's constantly on your mind to ride smoothly, you might ride a section fast but if you slam your back wheel into something you might puncture or break something and that's it game over really. It's a really tough course so after the good start I'll be concentrating on good strong laps with minimal mistakes and being consistent.

AL: Not really. There isn't one rider I aspire to be like to be honest. There are many riders I admire for one reason or another but I just want to do my own thing and do what I want to do. You can learn from others but ultimately I am my own person.

AL: A big party! That would be incredible wouldn't it? So definitely a big party! I'm an athlete and all but sometimes you have to let your hair down!!

AL: it's going in the right direction. When I was racing as a juvenile there weren't many girls doing it, but looking at the races now there seems to be a heck of a lot more girls out there having a go. It's not an easy situation to solve overnight. It's not an easy sport to get involved to be honest especially for girls. It's not a visible sport, plus the thought of getting covered in mud probably doesn't sell it to girls. I used to get to school some days and people used to point out I still had mud in my ears!!

The culture is different, you'll find a group of girls will more than likely be going out shopping chatting about makeup, whilst there would probably be a group of lads building jumps and having fun on bikes. I never had any girl friends that did anything like that and when you don't have that culture then it's hard to get involved. This translate to most women's technical skills on a bike including myself, because we didn't spend our formative years messing about on bikes it takes us a lot longer to get our heads around the tech stuff. Some of that is having the motivation to get out there and push yourself but also some of it is not having a network of mates that used to do this all the time without really thinking about it.

I think you really have to want to do it, but have fun. You don't need to have lots of good kit or be really fit to have a go in the open or sports class, and it's always worth a go as you might just like it and who knows where it will lead!

AL: I always preferred being off road, I found it more challenging and the actual races were much more interesting. Some road races for example you can be riding for a bit and you may have an attack but it can be boring. Off road you have to use your head all the time and focus all the way round. Mountain biking is a fickle sport and in a moment your focus is switched off and could spell disaster.

AL: Short term, well there is the World Championships of course that will be my next target. Long term, Olympics again of course, Worlds, Europeans, World Cups and WC Series. To be able to achieve that will take some doing. But I look at Sabrine Spritz; she was 37 when she won Gold at Beijing! 

When I get to the point where I'm not going to faster, I'm not enjoying it and I have no more goals, then that will be the time to quit and start training to be a doctor! But at the moment I can't see that happening for a long time yet!! I'm just taking each year as it comes and see where the racing will take me first.

Don't forget to tune in to cheer Annie on the 11th August. Racing kicks off at 12.30 pm make sure you're there!!!

 

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