The word ‘trailblazer’ can be thrown around, sometimes attributed to those who don’t necessarily deserve the accolade. Scottish cyclist Aileen McGlynn, however, embodies it.
When she began competing in the early 2000s, McGlynn was one of only three cyclists on the GB para-cycling team. Despite shoestring budgets and being new to the sport, McGlynn and her tandem pilot Ellen Hunter broke the flying 200m women’s tandem World Record in April 2003, and together they went on to win Paralympic gold and silver medals at the Summer Paralympic Games of 2004 in Athens.
“When I started out in 2002, we didn’t even have our own tandem, there was no funding really at all, we didn’t get proper funding until I’d won a gold and silver in Athens, the team that went to Athens was only around five para-athletes,” McGlynn remembers, speaking just a few moments before she is due to be officially inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame – a fitting recognition of her contribution to her sport.
“I think we got the ball rolling, and the medals we got enabled more funding for London and Beijing. It escalated so much, and we got a lot more proper equipment, training, coaching and nutritional support, all the stuff that you would expect from a high-performance set-up. It’s massively improved from when I first started.”
More records were shattered, and silverware was won as the years rolled on: at the 2006 Track Cycling World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland, McGlynn and Hunter won gold in the tandem kilo, going home with rainbow jerseys to add to their wardrobes. The following year, another two world titles were won before two gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
“I would say winning two gold medals in Beijing is one of my career highlights, but also coming back from winning silver and bronze medals in London 2012, being dropped from the team and then coming back for Tokyo and getting a three-second personal best with Helen Scott was fantastic,” the Scottish woman says. “It felt like our race that day was just spot on. I’ve raced so many times over the years, but that race for me felt like everything was right on the day.”
McGlynn has made an impact not just on the wooden boards of the velodrome but also on the wider cycling world. She excelled in road events, winning a silver medal in 2009 at the World Championships, setting world records, and winning gold on the track that year. Two seasons later,…