We were delighted to welcome elite athlete Shanaze Reade to Tytherington this week. Shanaze Reade is a former professional BMX racer and track cyclist who has won the UCI BMX World Championships three time. Shanaze is also a two time World Track Cycling Champion. Shanaze gave a motivational assembly to Key Stage 4 pupils talking about her career and the traits required to succeed in cycling. Students were inspired to hear her talk about a range of topics that included how she got her first bike by rummaging around a tip in Crewe all the way to competing in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics. Year 11 student Emily Griffin pictured below did a fantastic job in compering the assembly and surely has a budding career as an interviewer!

Shanaze also met with some of our talented sports students in Key Stage 3, pictured below following the assembly and answered more questions about her career and sport in general. It was a privilege for students to gain an insight in to the world of professional sport and the sacrifices made in order to reach the top. In a more informal setting, Shanaze was able to go in to more detail with regards to topics such as whether a level playing field exists in sport, how much sports science support aids elite performance as well as media representation of the drugs in sport issue with reference to the recent DCMS report on Combatting Doping in Sport. We are extremely grateful to Shanaze for the time she spent speaking with our students who took an awful lot from their time with her.