Disability Sport Wales
Chwaraeon Anabledd Cymru

Athlete: Ellen Hunter

HOME TOWN: Wrexham
SPORT: Pilot Cyclist
EVENT: Various

COMPETITION HONOURS: Ellen, as Pilot cyclist for Aileen McGlynn broke the World record for flying 200m women’s tandem in April 2004.

At the Cycling World Championships in Switzerland 2006, Ellen Hunter piloted Aileen McGlynn to win gold, a Rainbow Jersey for Wales and a new world record ranking them 17th among 33 male competitors.

Tandem 1km time Trial VI race 1. MCGLYNN Aileen/HUNTER Ellen, GBR 1:10.795 (World Record)

From:Wrexham

Discipline: Pilot guide to visually impaired rider

Ellen believes that her husband Paul has been the main driving force in her cycling career their first date was actually spent on the back of a bike! Since then, they have both firm fixtures on the IPC cycling scene. They were both selected as part of the British cycling team at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens – the pair riding as pilot guides to visually impaired cyclists.

Ellen, 39, competed in the women’s tandem races piloting Scotland’s Aileen McGlynn at the Olympic Velodrome. Ellen’s presence at the Athens Games was particularly remarkable as not long before, she broke her back in a cycling accident at the Women’s Omnium at Herne Hill, Kent, and was told she may never cycle again.

During her six weeks in hospital, she read multi-winning Tour De France champion, Lance Armstrong’s autobiography which, she claims, provided her with the strength and courage to be a better and stronger cyclist than ever before.

Hunter and McGlynn powered to a new world record in the kilometre time trial tandem at the UCI World Cycling Championships in Aigle in 2006. It was Wales’ second rainbow jersey at the event as Jody Cundy also delivered a World record-breaking performance.

Chinese cyclists are continually threatening the GB tandem duo, but while their rivals may continue to improve, Hunter from Box Lane, Wrexham, is continuing to grow and develop under a new training structure. Hunter’s trophy cabinet also boasts gold from the 2006 VISA Paralympic World Cup, where she raced furiously to beat the cream of disability cycling from Australia, China, America and Germany.

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