It’s not every day that you get to talk to a champion cyclist but, for customers at the Banora Point Post Office, it happens more often than you think.
Eighteen-year-old Australian junior cycling champion Emily Roper, who is studying to be a nurse, spends most Saturdays working in the Banora Point Post Office owned and operated by her parents – but she won’t be there for the next few weeks.
You see, she’ll be a bit busy taking on the best in the world in the Road Racing championships in Holland. Flying out earlier this week with the rest of the Australian team, she will race in Belgium and then on to Holland for the titles. While it’s her first tilt at the road racing world titles, she is already a world champion, as part of last year’s Australian 3000m pursuit team who took out victory at the track titles in Russia.
Emily, who has Olympic ambitions, has been in outstanding form so far this year, winning Australian and Oceanic titles to claim her place as just one of four Australian girls in the Under 19 team.
The talented rider claimed two Australian titles in two days at the Australian titles in late June, with a stunning victory in the time trial and then line honours in a bunch sprint finish in the Under 19 Women’s 82 kilometre road race.
Not bad for a girl who followed her brother into the sport.
“My brother started riding and he got a new bike,” she said, admitting to claiming the old one and getting hooked on the sport.
“We actually started doing triathlons here at Banora Point but I found I really like the bike.”
She must put in an average of 500km a week in training as well as competing in road races held by the Murwillumbah Cycle Club on the back roads outside Murwillumbah on a lot of weekends.
