Shanaze Danielle Reade (born 23 September 1988 in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, Cheshire, United Kingdom) is a British former bicycle motocross (BMX) racer and

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...

whose prime competitive years began in 2002. She has won the UCI BMX World Championships three times. Reade is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Irish mother.

Early years

Reade was primarily raised by her grandparents after her mother gave birth to her at the age of 17. She has credited her grandfather with giving her the self-confidence to achieve success in her cycling career. Reade began racing in 1998 at the age of 10, at Tipkinder Park in

. A local track operator named Bob Field, whose son also raced at the time, became her mentor. She was previously a Track & Field enthusiast but apparently got bored with 100-metre sprint running and the

Shot Put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

after five years in those sports before discovering BMX.

BMX career to 2007

In 2005, she raced the National series with the men all year, despite being only 17 years old. She commented on racing against men in a ''Descent World'' interview: Reade fractured her knee two weeks before the UCI World Championships in July 2005 at a national event in England. She raced the World Championships with her knee wrapped up and on pain killers but crashed in the quarter finals. Known for her power, she developed her strength racing against boys and older amateurs, including men up to the present time. She won her first professional race in the Girls Pro at the

American Bicycle Association The American Bicycle Association (ABA) was a US-based BMX sports governing body in Gilbert, Arizona. In 2011, the ABA merged with the former National Bicycle League and became the current USA BMX. The organization was founded by Merl Mennenga ...

(ABA) Winternationals in Phoenix, Arizona on 1 April 2006. She also won the following day. In 2006, she became British National No.1 in 19 & Over Elite Men after racing the National series with men all year, despite being only 17 at the time, 1.72 metres tall and 76 kg. In June 2006, Reade broke a metatarsal bone in practice. Her first race back was the 2006 European Championships where she competed only in the last two race events before the final Event. The cast came off four days before the European Championships Final Event. She won the World Championships in Brazil in August 2006 despite an earlier injury to her foot. Her BMX victories at junior level include three World, eight European and five British BMX championships. Reade is also a champion track racer, riding on Velodromes. In July 2007 she became the Women's Senior UCI BMX World Champion and at the

2007 UCI Track World Championships The 2007 UCI Track Cycling World Championships is the World Championship for track cycling. It took place in Palma de Mallorca, Spain from March 29, 2007 to April 1, 2007. The event was dominated by the Great Britain team who topped the medals ta ...

, she won the gold in the women's team sprint with Victoria Pendleton. It was only her second track race ever. Not only was she the first ever to win a track championship in her rookie year, she completed the feat after only six weeks of training. She had originally taken up the sport to keep her fit for BMX competition.

Track racing

Reade started track racing on 24 February 2007, her first ever competition on the velodrome was in the Manchester round of the 2006–2007 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics. She took second place with

Anna Blyth Anna Blyth (born 15 May 1988) is an English racing cyclist from Leeds. She began racing at 15, having been spotted by British Cycling at Benton Park. She joined the World Class Start Programme, becoming a member of the Olympic Development Plan a ...

in the Team Sprint in a time of 34.294 seconds. The Gold Medal-winning Dutch team of

Yvonne Hijgenaar Yvonne Hijgenaar (born 15 May 1980 in Alkmaar) is a Dutch racing cyclist and former national speed skater. Background Hijgenaar is a former speed skater who for two years was in the Netherlands national team.Sportief Alkmaar, October 2007 In 2 ...

and Willy Kanis' time was 33.966 seconds. Like Reade, Kanis is also a champion BMX racer. Reade and Blyth's qualifying time was the fastest of the event at 33.802 seconds. In the final round, the Dutch team made a false start, however, Reade didn't notice the call back to the start and completed a lap at full sprint. In a post race interview, Reade said: Reade Pendleton 2008

A month later, on 29 March, Reade went on to take first place in Team Sprint at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

along with Victoria Pendleton. It was also the first ever Women's Team Sprint Gold Medal title in that event. Their winning time was 33.631 seconds. Reade was a last minute replacement for Anna Blyth, Reade's partner at her first track racing event a month prior. This success in Velodrome racing follows the example of the former professional BMX racer,

Jamie Staff Jamie Alan Staff MBE (born 30 April 1973) is an English racing cyclist and coach, formerly on BMX and later on the track. A World and Olympic champion, he has also won numerous other medals at World Championships, World Cups and at the Commonwe ...

, who had a successful career both in Velodrome track racing and BMX racing. At the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester, she again won the gold in the women's team sprint with Pendleton. On 20 November 2007 Reade was named '' The Sunday Times'' Young Sportswoman of the Year.

Olympic Games

Reade is still active in track racing but concentrated on BMX for the event's first inclusion in the Olympic Games in 2008. Having successfully defended her crown at the 2008 world championships, Reade was named the sole woman member of the United Kingdom BMX Olympic team by British Cycling on 9 July 2008. She was the favourite to win the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the women's BMX event. She crashed in the first qualifying heat time trial, but the second heat saw Reade set second fastest time. As the best of both times was counted; she advanced to the semi-finals. They were run in three heats, with riders accumulating points dependendent on placings. Despite crashing in the first heat, Reade gained enough points to put her through to the final. The final round saw Reade ride slightly more conservatively conceding the lead to Anne-Caroline Chausson on the first berm. She crashed again on the final berm when she clipped Chausson's rear wheel, conceding the chance of a medal. She did not finish the race.

Return to the track

On 16 March 2009, Reade was selected in the British squad for the

World Track Cycling Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

in Pruszków, Poland, where she once again competed alongside Victoria Pendleton in the Women's Sprint and Team Sprint events. In 2009 however Reade and Pendleton failed to retain their team crown, winning only a silver after losing out to

Kaarle McCulloch Kaarle McCulloch (born 20 January 1988) is an Australian former professional track cyclist and four time World Champion in the team sprint. She also won three golds at the Commonwealth Games and an Olympic bronze medal. She qualified for the T ...

and

Anna Meares Anna Maree Devenish Meares (born 21 September 1983) is an Australian retired track cyclist. She currently resides in Adelaide in South Australia where the Australian Institute of Sport's Track Cycling program has its headquarters at the Adelaid ...

of Australia. Reade was philosophical after this setback telling BBC Sport "I did the best possible ride I could do on the day so I'm really happy." In April 2015 it was announced that Reade was re-joining the Great Britain track squad after a period based in the United States competing in BMX. Subsequently, in August 2015 the team announced that Reade would ride for them during the 2015–16 track cycling season as part of her preparation for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Olympics 2012

Reade again represented Great Britain in the women's BMX event for the London 2012 Olympics. Having placed second, first and second in the three heat semi-final she finished a disappointing sixth in the final.

Retirement and comeback

In April 2017 Reade announced her retirement from competition, after she had been dropped from British Cycling's elite squad: in a 2021 interview she said this had forced her into retirement as British Cycling's medical team believed that she would not be able to compete at the Tokyo Olympics as she had had her shoulder operated on five times. After her retirement she became a fitness coach. However, the period after her retirement was marked by a bout of alcoholism and weight gain, which she was able to recover from after joining

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

. In August 2018 she returned to training at British Cycling, after being invited several times by performance director

Stephen Park Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

. In a January 2019 interview, Reade explained that she was returning to competition for "closure" after feeling that her physical and mental condition were sub-optimal at the time of her retirement, adding that she was now treating the sport as a hobby and not accepting funding for her cycling. That month she won the

British National Team Sprint Championships The British National Team Sprint Championships are held annually as part of the British National Track Championships organized by British Cycling. A women's championship was held for the first time in 2008. Results Men Women See also * Brit ...

alongside Blaine Ridge-Davis - her first national title in any discipline. However, a few days afterwards she was ruled out of selection for the

2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were held in Pruszków, Poland from 27 February to 3 March 2019. Schedule 20 events were held: Medal summary Medals table Men Women *Shaded events are non-Olympic References Externa ...

due to a rule changed which required competitors at the world championships to have competed in that season's World Cup: the team sprint squad that Team GB sent to the world championships was unable to secure qualification for the Olympics in the event. Reade subsequently retired from competition for a second time. She has stated that she was subsequently approached by the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association to enquire whether she would consider competing in bobsleigh with a view to being part of the British squad at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

, but that she had turned them down. Aside from fitness coaching, she also serves as West Midlands cycling and walking ambassador, and also acts as a brand ambassador for a number of companies including

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

. In 2020 she was appointed as a co-opted member of the board of directors for the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow and in June 2021 she was also announced as an ambassador for the 2023 Worlds.

Titles and awards

BMX titles

Amateur

British Cycling ;2000 :11–12 Girls and 12 Girls Cruiser BCFBMX National Champion. She also came in 4th in 12 cruiser against the boys that year ;2001 :Senior Women's Champion :13 Girls European Champion ;2003 :15 Girls European Champion ;2004 :16 Girls European Champion :16 Girls and 18 & Under Women's Cruiser World Champion ;2005 :18 & Under Women's Cruiser European Champion :17 Expert European Champion ;2006 :Junior Elite Women European Champion

Professional

British Cycling ;2002 :Superclass girl National Champion ;2003 :Superclass girl National Champion ;2006 :19 & Over Elite Men British National No.1 Union Cycliste Internationale ;2006 : Junior Women World Champion ;2007 : Elite Women World Champion :Elite Women European Champion :Elite Women Supercross World Cup Champion – This was the "Good Luck, Beijing" race held on 22 August 2007 on the Olympic track in Beijing, China exactly 362 days before BMX Olympic competition started in Beijing. ;2008 : Elite Women World Champion :Elite Women Supercross World Cup Champion ;2010 : Elite Women World Champion ;2013 :1st UCI BMX Supercross World Cup – Round 1 :1st UCI BMX Supercross World Cup – Round 2

Track results

;2007 :1st Team Sprint, World Championships, with Victoria Pendleton :2nd Team Sprint, UCI Track Cycling World Cup, with

:5th 500 m TT, World Championships ;2008 :1st Team Sprint, World Championships, with Victoria Pendleton ;2015 :2nd

, with

Victoria Williamson Victoria "Vicky" Williamson (born 15 September 1993) is an elite British bobsledder and former track cyclist who specialised in the sprint disciplines. In 2013, with Rebecca James, she won the bronze medal in the team sprint at the World Tra ...

;2019 :1st MaillotReinoUnido

, with Blaine Ridge-Davis

References

External links

Shanaze Reade
at British Cycling * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reade, Shanaze 1988 births Living people Black British sportswomen BMX riders Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Great Britain English female cyclists English people of Jamaican descent English track cyclists Lesbian sportswomen LGBT Black British people LGBT cyclists English LGBT sportspeople Sportspeople from Crewe UCI Track Cycling World Champions (women)