Wendy Houvenaghel

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Wendy Houvenaghel

Personal information
Full name	Wendy Houvenaghel
Date of birth	March 11, 1974 (1974-27-11) (age 33)
Country	United Kingdom
Team information
Current team	Science in Sport.com
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Pursuit / Time-trialist
Amateur team(s)
?–2004	Camel Vally Cycling
Professional team(s)
2005–2004	Science in Sport.com
Major wins
National 3km Pursuit Champion (2005, 2007) UCI World Track Cup 3km Pursuit (2006, 2007) National Time Trial Champion (2007) UCI World Track Championships Team Pursuit (2008)
Infobox last updated on:
March 30, 2008

Medal record
Competitor for  Great Britain
Track cycling
World Championships
Gold	2008 Manchester	Team Pursuit

Wendy Houvenaghel (b. November 27, 1974) is a British cyclist, riding on both the road and track, but specialising in the latter. She has represented the United Kingdom in various world cycling championships, most notably winning a gold medal in the team pursuit at the 2008 Track World Championships. She has also won various British national competitions and represented England at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. On the road, she rides under the sponsorship of Science in Sport.com.

[edit] Career

Houvenaghel rose to fame at a relatively late stage, first competing on the world stage in 2005, aged 31. Prior to this, she had competed in time trials within the UK for the amateur club Camel Valley. She won the British National Circuit Time Trial series in 2003 ^[1] and won all British time-trials that she competed in during 2005. ^[2] During this year she began competing on the track at the 3 km pursuit. She was victorious in this event at the British National Track Championships, in her first ever track race ^[2] and went on to compete in the UCI Track World Cup, which she duly won. ^[3]

Focusing on the track, she retained her World Track Cup title in 2006 and gained a second place in the British National Time Trial Championships on the road. She also represented the UK for the first time at the track World Championships, and competed for England on both the track and the road at the Commonwealth Games, ^[3] with her best finish being a 5th in the track pursuit at the World Championship. Following a victory in the pursuit at the 2007 British National Track Championships, she went one better to finish fourth in the 2007 World Championships, ^[4] as well as winning the national time-trial title for the first time. ^[5]

Prior to 2008 Houvenaghel declared that her focus would be on the Track World Championships and 2008 Olympic Games. ^[6] In the Track World Championships in Manchester she was a part of the gold medal winning team pursuit, ensuring participation at the Olympics. ^[7] She missed out, however, on a medal in the individual pursuit, again finishing fourth. ^[8]

[edit] Palmares

[edit] References