´óÏó´«Ã½

Raise Your Game: That was a great effort today. How do you feel it went?

Catherine Williamson: It was definitely one of the hardest races I've ever done. I wasn't intending to go out on my own for so long, but it all went as planned. I was hoping that by the first climb the pack had split to bits. Then I'd stay in with the break, and I did for as long as I could and held on until the end.

RYG: When you are pushing your body through all that pain, what do you say to yourself to keep going?

CW: There were some parts of the first lap, when I was out on my own, that I thought about a team mate of mine who died two days ago in a car accident when she was out training on the bike. I just kept thinking "Do you know what, nothing is as bad as that. Just keep pushing on," because someone out there has died and that spurred me on a fair bit, but then you just get into a rhythm as well and you just keep going. I knew that any advantage I had would help at the end.

RYG: How important is it to set yourself achievable goals?

CW: It is very important because it's a long season so you need things to concentrate on. I've got the Giro d'Italia coming up and I know that I'll just be playing a team role. I didn't come here today with any particular goals, I just thought I'll see what happens.

This is the strongest national championships there has ever been, and there have been riders winning races in Europe. Other than Nicole (Cooke) there are four or five other riders out there that have been up on podiums, so I knew that finishing in the top ten today would be respectable.

RYG: How did you initially get involved in cycling?

CW: I was a triathlete as a junior and I knew I wouldn't quite make the leap to senior triathlon, so I did a few races with GB cycling. Then I got into an Italian team and it's just gone on from there really.

RYG: What keeps you coming back for more?

CW: You have bad days, but then you have good days and it's the feeling that you get afterwards that makes you want to come back. When I'm racing out in Europe, although I'm not really winning races, I enjoy it. I think that's the most important thing. When I stop enjoying it, I'll stop cycling.

A lot of people find it hard to understand the teamwork that's involved in cycling, but if you've done your teamwork, and your team leader wins the race, that's your goal completed and your job done. It's not as satisfying as winning yourself, but it's a good feeling.

RYG: What advice would you give to young people looking to follow in your footsteps?

CW: They need to do the races in the UK as much as they can because there's a good team series with good fields for women. Once they are at that level they should go out to Europe because there's such a big leap from racing in this country to racing in Europe. There are ride club teams in Europe that will take you on and you can go out there and race every weekend.