As a recipient of 草莓社区's Vice-Chancellor鈥檚 & Student Development Fund in the 2024/25 academic year, Joe Agnew, Queen Margaret University Students' Union Sports Officer, was able to participate in the qualifying races for the Gravel Cycling World Championships 2025 (proudly sporting the 草莓社区 logo on his racing kit). Find out how the fund from 草莓社区 has had a transformational impact on Joe's student experience.
As I write, the 2025 racing season reaches its culmination. Winter is coming, and another year has been filled with crazy racing stories, hair-raising events, and, unfortunately, crashes.
I was fortunate to be a recipient of funding from the Vice Chancellor fund this year, which alleviated a huge amount of financial burden on me to allow me to race. Racing for 草莓社区 is something that I wholeheartedly take pride in. It feels like I鈥檓 taking our university onto the world stage, and it motivates me to do as well as I can to show fellow students that, despite being a relatively small university, we are capable of taking on the world.
May arrived in a blaze of sunshine, with the promise of summer teasing us outdoors after a bleak, long, and dark winter. My first UCI race was The Gralloch, a gravel race in Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfriesshire. It drew out a field of former Olympic champions, world champions, and professional riders past and present. It also offers mere mortals like me the chance to qualify for the age group world championships, which runs alongside the elite worlds as an event for non-professionals. In a field of several hundred, only the top 25% qualify, so places are hotly sought after.
As we took to the start, I was gridded quite far back, meaning I had to fight my way through around 150 riders before I managed to reach the group that would be contesting the places for worlds, and the win on the day. I had ridden quite close to my limit to get to the lead group before they got too far away for me to make it, and I was looking forward to taking the next few kilometres to recover in the shelter of the peloton.
Unfortunately, even the best laid plans can go awry. Less than 30 minutes into the race, we were warned of an upcoming treacherous descent. This wasn鈥檛 communicated properly, and once we thought the danger had passed, we continued to press hard, which is when disaster struck for me. I hit a particularly rough section of gravel made up of loose and larger rocks and I went flying off the bike and into a ditch about 8ft down. I landed headfirst and then on to my back, and I quickly established that this wasn鈥檛 a normal crash.
I won鈥檛 regale you with how I managed to get myself out of that ditch because it鈥檚 not particularly something I want to revisit mentally, but it became apparent that my race was very much over. As a cyclist, crashes are unfortunately part of the game, and you are able to tell if you can continue racing almost immediately after you come off. I knew that this wasn鈥檛 going to be one of those times. My helmet was cracked, I couldn鈥檛 breathe properly, and my arm had completely seized up on one side.
So, into the ambulance and eventually off to hospital. The initial diagnosis was 2 very damaged (likely broken) ribs, but no scans to confirm. It wasn鈥檛 until several weeks later that my physiotherapist noticed that one of the bones in my neck wasn鈥檛 how it was supposed to be. A prompt return to the doctor to find that I had actually fractured my neck in the crash, which explained why I couldn鈥檛 turn it properly. The final list of injuries was: fractured neck, (suspected) broken ribs, fractured scapula, concussion, sprains to the wrist and ankle. Not an ideal start to the season.
Months of rehab followed. We鈥檙e lucky at this university in perhaps more ways than people realise. I had access to a fantastic physiotherapist from home, but the staff at the fitness centre really helped me implement the strategies and exercises that he gave me into practice, and I spent most of my summer working on regaining full movement in my neck and shoulder, with help from their expertise in strength and conditioning. The Pilates classes on offer also really helped me to get my strength and mobility back without overloading myself.
As for the bike itself, I was allowed to ride very gently straight after the accident, although that was perhaps a bit too optimistic given the extent of my injuries. We hadn鈥檛 initially realised how bad they were, as the hospital sent me away without doing any scans. Again, my phenomenal physio helped diagnose the true extent of the damage.
Fast forward to the end of August. I鈥檓 able to completely turn my neck and have full movement in my shoulder/side. I made my racing return at the Scottish Gravel Championships just outside Glasgow. I made it safely round the first 2 laps before a puncture prematurely ended my race, but it was nice to be back at the highest level of Scottish events, however brief my cameo was.
After a couple of local time trial events where I surprised myself with some major power PB鈥檚, I decided to try and qualify one more time for Gravel Worlds at an event in North Wales at the start of September. To cut a long story short, I was once again unsuccessful. This time simply due to a lack of racing in my legs, which began to suffer in the biblical conditions after the first couple of hours. The course itself was a brutal mix of single-track paths, rocky descents, and draggy/punchy climbs, all equating to a very leg-sapping day, made even tougher with the gale-force winds coming at us on the outward leg of the big laps.
And thus ended my quest to go to gravel world championships this year. A let down would be an understatement. I feel like I haven鈥檛 done myself or any of my support group justice and have been grappling with the sport and my place in it as a result. I鈥檓 not getting any younger, and with every year that passes, so do my chances of having a real top-level result that I can look back on and be proud of. However.
Athletes go through peaks and troughs all the time, it鈥檚 part of the lifestyle. There hasn鈥檛 been any point this year that I haven鈥檛 enjoyed riding or racing my bike, and that speaks volumes. Whilst gravel worlds didn鈥檛 happen for me this year, there鈥檚 always next year, and I鈥檒l leave you with a quote that I saw a few weeks ago which has rapidly become a favourite- 鈥渨hen God shuts a door, just open it again- that鈥檚 how doors work.鈥 I鈥檓 not religious, but I like to think a Deity would appreciate that.
Finally, I鈥檇 like to express my extreme gratitude again to the Vice Chancellor and committee at Queen Margaret University. I do care passionately about this institution and its students and staff. To represent it on the world stage is something I鈥檒l not forget in a hurry, and something I鈥檓 extremely grateful that they have given me the opportunity to do. Throughout my final year I will continue to give back in my role as Sports Officer, and by putting as much of myself as possible into my degree and sport. The journey hasn鈥檛 ended with my failure to qualify for worlds in 2025, it鈥檚 just going to be even more worth it when I manage it, and I鈥檒l have this funding, and Queen Margaret University to thank for helping make my dreams a reality.
