An Olympic cycling hopeful has vowed to make a quick return to the saddle after suffering multiple fractures in a horror accident – her third in the last six months.
Zoe Watters, 18, a member of Irvine club Fullarton Wheelers, shattered her jaw in two places and suffered a broken wrist and finger after she thrown over her bike handlebars during a race.
The injuries will keep Zoe, who has represented Scotland and Great Britain on the track, out of action for a few months.
Back in December she was hit by a car on her way home from a training ride. She was then hospitalised with facial injuries after crashing at an international track race in Apeldoorn.
She said: “Unfortunately, I’ve had a pretty tough six months.
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“I spent months training hard to get back up to my peak fitness for the summer season, as I was going to be racing for Scotland in British races which I was really excited about.
“Now I’m likely going to be out of action for a couple of months, which I’m gutted about, but now my main priority is recovery. Although it has given me a scare, I don’t think it’s going to stop my racing, but it might take me some time to get my confidence back.”
Zoe took a gap year between school and her plans to study criminology and sociology at Stirling University to focus on her training. She is on the Scottish Cycling Performance programme.
She is on the Scottish Cycling Performance programme which means a lot of her training is based at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
“Through this programme I’ve also got strength and conditioning sessions with the Sport Scotland Institute of Sport which is also based in Stirling so studying up there should work really well.
“Since I started racing with the Scotland Team, I’ve started racing in higher level races and international races in other countries, and although I’ve been enjoying road racing, track racing is my favourite.
“I was delighted to make the final for the senior British scratch race champs in January and I got to race with Olympic and commonwealth champions, which has motivated me even more to get to the highest level I can reach.”
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Zoe began cycling when she was 13-years-old after her dad, Stephen, joined Fullarton Wheelers. Zoe said: “The Wheelers really helped me to improve and become confident enough to race.
“I was thrown into the Youth Tour of Scotland as my first race when I was 15, a high level race with the best girls in Britain, which really showed me how tough and committed you have to be to succeed in this sport.
“I was determined to one day be able to race among those girls. That started my love for racing and since then I haven’t looked back.”
