Christine Robson has been commuting since 2008. She started out on a bike her then boyfriend picked up on eBay for £7.50. It wasn’t until 2013 that she got herself down to the velodrome, wearing the one jersey she happened to own – with ‘Marmite’ blazed across her chest. Yet in just her third season of racing she’s found herself competing against Olympic and Paralympic gold medalists and World Champions.
The Velo Club Londres member has been riding a fast moving upward trajectory ever since she first sat on a fixed gear bike and pedalled in circles in 2013. She gained her Category 1 license in her second full season of racing and earned a place in the Elite women’s races at the London Six Day event in 2015. This year she placed fourth in the National Derny Championships, won the Full Gas National Women’s Omnium, and raced two rounds of Revolution.
“If I went back in time by three years, I’d just laugh, and tell myself ‘that is the dream!’”
Understandably, it’s all been a bit of a whirlwind – and the 28-year-old is still letting the motor paced journey sink in – telling me: “It’s absolutely mental. If I went back in time by three years, I’d just laugh, and tell myself ‘that is the dream!’”
We caught up with Christine on a Monday morning, as she got back into the swing of her day job after racing in the Revolution Elite Women’s Competition in Manchester. There she was up against against the likes of Dame Sarah Storey, Elinor Barker and Road World Champion Amalie Dideriksen. Talking about the experience of battling some of the fastest riders in the world, she tells me: “On the start line, I had to say to myself ‘look, you know how to ride a bike, if you get dropped you get dropped, if you’re in the mix that’s great.’ I guess when you’re on the start line, you’re all in the race together.”
