ERIN Creighton started the summer by graduating from Queen’s University with a degree in aerospace engineering. Now the Team NI cyclists is hoping to outsmart her opponents at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Two years ago Crighton travelled with Ireland to the Paris Olympics as a reserve and she is looking forward to racing at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in her first Commonwealth Games.
“I’m so excited to compete,” enthused Creighton. “This is my first time competing for Northern Ireland, normally I’m competing for Ireland, it’s exciting to represent people from home on the international stage.
“I started cycling just with my family. My dad was always a big into mountain biking and then my two older brothers started racing mountain bikes and I went along every weekend watching them and got inspired that way.
“I started with mountain biking and then kind of just fell into the cycling circle and started doing road and track as well. Mountain biking is still my favourite discipline, I would have liked to do a bit more of it, but there aren’t a lot of racing opportunities for it in Ireland and I still enjoy the road and the track,
“It is a bit different, but I think the mountain bike gives you a lot of skills that are transferable to the road and the track. I haven’t had any bad injuries mountain biking, I think I’ve had worse crashes on the track, to be honest.”
As a 20-year-old Creighton helped Ireland’s women qualify for the team pursuit event for the first time at an Olympics.
“The Olympics was a really cool experience. I was so young at the time, it was great getting to train and race with those girls and learning so much from them at such a young age. I think I’ll take those skills into my future career as well,” said Creighton.
“I never really expected to go to Paris, so just to get there, even though I wasn’t even racing, it was still an amazing experience. I learned so much that’s going to help me in the future and it’s cool to say you’ve been at the Olympics.”
Creighton will race in all three disciplines in Glasgow, each requiring different skills and game plans in order to be in the mix for medals.
““The three different races at the Commonwealth Games are the points race, the elimination race and the scratch race,” she explained.
“The scratch race is probably the simplest, it’s just whoever crosses the line first wins, the elimination race is every other lap, the last rider across the line is eliminated and it basically goes down until there’s only two left.
“The points race is probably the most complicated, every 10 laps, there’s a sprint and the first four people across the line get points, it’s five, three, two and one, then the last sprint is double points and you also can gain 20 points for gaining a lap on the field.
“There’s a lot of strategy and you kind of have to play to your strengths, you go into each race having a plan that you’re going to try to execute, but ultimately you never know what everyone else is going to do, so you have to read the race while you’re in it.
“If you’re fighting with someone and they attack, you’re just going to have to chase them no matter what your plan was. It all depends how the race plans out, but you just have to do your best.”
Ultimately, with three chances of success across the Games, a medal is the goal for the Antrim native.
“I think it’s just cool getting to go to another multi-sport event and there’s obviously so much more media and attention that goes along with these big events,” she said.
“I’m just excited to go and represent people from here in Northern Ireland and do my best, but ultimately, I think a podium would be amazing in Glasgow.
“I’m really excited to have a lot of family and friends there, my older brother has actually just moved to Glasgow, it’ll be exciting to go see him and his girlfriend and have a lot of people there cheering me on.”
