The word ‘trailblazer’ can be thrown around, sometimes attributed to those who don’t necessarily deserve the accolade. Scottish cyclist Aileen McGlynn, however, embodies it.
When she began competing in the early 2000s, McGlynn was one of only three cyclists on the GB para-cycling team. Despite shoestring budgets and being new to the sport, McGlynn and her tandem pilot Ellen Hunter broke the flying 200m women's tandem World Record in April 2003, and together they went on to win Paralympic gold and silver medals at the Summer Paralympic Games of 2004 in Athens.
“When I started out in 2002, we didn’t even have our own tandem, there was no funding really at all, we didn’t get proper funding until I’d won a gold and silver in Athens, the team that went to Athens was only around five para-athletes,” McGlynn remembers, speaking just a few moments before she is due to be officially inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame – a fitting recognition of her contribution to her sport.
“I think we got the ball rolling, and the medals we got enabled more funding for London and Beijing. It escalated so much, and we got a lot more proper equipment, training, coaching and nutritional support, all the stuff that you would expect from a high-performance set-up. It’s massively improved from when I first started.”
More records were shattered, and silverware was won as the years rolled on: at the 2006 Track Cycling World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland, McGlynn and Hunter won gold in the tandem kilo, going home with rainbow jerseys to add to their wardrobes. The following year, another two world titles were won before two gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
“I would say winning two gold medals in Beijing is one of my career highlights, but also coming back from winning silver and bronze medals in London 2012, being dropped from the team and then coming back for Tokyo and getting a three-second personal best with Helen Scott was fantastic,” the Scottish woman says. “It felt like our race that day was just spot on. I’ve raced so many times over the years, but that race for me felt like everything was right on the day.”
McGlynn has made an impact not just on the wooden boards of the velodrome but also on the wider cycling world. She excelled in road events, winning a silver medal in 2009 at the World Championships, setting world records, and winning gold on the track that year. Two seasons later, however, change was on the horizon for McGlynn.
Learning to ride with a new tandem pilot can undeniably come with challenges –having trust and a strong relationship with your partner is crucial to getting results. In 2011, McGlynn was paired with Helen Scott, a former track sprinter who transferred to the para-cycling team as a pilot. Immediately, however, the duo of McGlynn and Scott were able to work together, finding success at the 2012 World Track Championships in LA, where the pair came away with three silver medals. At the London Paralympic Games that same year, McGlynn won silver and bronze in the 1km time trial and the individual pursuit, respectively, and was awarded an OBE for her services to disability sport.
“I hope I’ve inspired people to get into cycling. I just love cycling. It’s a fantastic sport to be involved in, and paralympic cycling is such a fantastic event to be involved in. I would never have visited so many countries I’ve been to without being on the British Cycling team. It’s been amazing, and hopefully it inspires more people with visual impairments and disabilities to get into sport,” McGlynn says.
From starting out as one of only a couple of riders part of the GB para-cycling team, McGlynn’s results were crucial to helping drive para-cycling forward in the UK and set an example for other partially sighted cyclists. The British para-cycling team is now one of the most successful across the globe, most recently coming away with 22 medals at the Paris Paralympics.
It is not only within her field in para-cycling that McGlynn has blazed a trail either. After winning two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, McGlynn took a break from the sport before returning In 2021. At age 48, McGlynn reunited with Scott to take silver at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the women's time trial B in a personal best of 1:06.743, proving that age need not be a boundary when it comes to performing in sport. McGlynn’s final races came in Team Scotland colours at Birmingham 2022 last summer, where she took silver in the Sprint and bronze in the time trial with pilot Ellie Stone, a fitting end to a glittering career.
The impact that McGlynn has had on the cycling world should not be underestimated. She leaves behind a legacy that will always be remembered for the pathways it has opened up for generations after her to pursue their dreams in para-cycling. In a career spanning two decades, McGlynn leaves the sport as a seven-time Paralympic medallist whose determination and endurance will inspire for years to come.
