A special thanks goes to Aaron, Jenna and their daughter, Sienna, for bringing his tremendous story to life last night.
In addition, I would like to thank all of the members who turned up – despite England playing against the USA in the World Cup (which we screened at the club in any case) – for the last official FCCC Club Night of 2022 to listen to our special guest Aaron Borrill for our third evening in the series of ‘An Audience with…’
It is rare to have the luxury of a private audience with a World Champion Cyclist. A humble man who competes in the sport at the very highest level.
Aaron’s personal and frank account of racing in the UCI 2022 Cycling ESports World Championships and the rigorous routines he has to go through simply to be registered to compete provided an insight into the personal sacrifice and gruelling schedule he needs to maintain to stay at this level in this sport. The strict testing imposed and regulations applicable just to level the playing field for all the cycling athletes was much more detailed than many of us would have expected.
To interview someone who came to the sport in his 30’s ( later than most) and still have the passion, enthusiasm and obsession to succeed at the highest level was an honour.
Aaron shared his personal account of moving his family from his beloved South Africa to the UK, his pride in racing in the South Africa colours together with his road to rebuilding a tremendous cycling record (2 wins, and several podium finishes, out of 13 world stage events) after sustaining several severe injuries (following an awful crash at 45kmh in a peloton while competing in South Africa) was inspiring.
Finally, his particular deep appreciation of FCCC’s 100+ year history and the significance to him of racing for our annual TT trophies brought a different perspective on why FCCC can mean so much to its members.
Paul Hosemann (Chair)
