From on top of the world to dashed Olympic dreams with velocity and veg: learning from success and setback.
Wisdom is defined as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. Experience tends to imply duration, and the regular embodiment of this human trait is the quintessential elder, often with wizened features. Think Yoda.
So far so good, but can such a rule be challenged? Is there any validity in the assertion that acumen can be possessed by anyone who has yet to reach the maturity associated with greying or even thinning hair? I was convinced – as someone north of their 50s – that this was a ridiculous claim. Then I met a bunch of elite athletes with an average age of 24: Great Britain’s Speedway of Nations squad: Robert Lambert, Dan Bewley, and Tom Brennan, along with world champion cyclist Will Tidball. Collectively, they blew this hitherto resolute assumption to smithereens at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester during a rain-sodden week in July.
First to share his insight into the field of human achievement was 25-year-old Dan Bewley. I sought guidance for one close to my heart: “My son Adam never inherited my passion for speedway, but my 5-year-old grandson Arthur loves it. He’s just ditched his stabilisers and he’s off like a rocket! What would you recommend as the next stage as he aims to emulate you?”
A pragmatic Dan was clear on the path ahead: “Keep on doing what he’s doing; it’s great to see that he’s off the stabilisers. Any time he can have on a bike is a huge benefit.” In terms of the important emotional aspect, he was equally persuasive: “Keep having fun on two wheels and don’t look too far ahead – just enjoy it!”
Twenty-six-year-old Robert Lambert echoed Dan’s mindset. “Enjoy it. For me it all started as a hobby. Keep working hard at it and keep the dream in mind.” But any success story is rarely a solitary achievement, as Robert was quick to acknowledge: “Never lose sight of the importance of your family and the close friends around you in any endeavour you embark upon.”
Twenty-three-year-old Tom Brennan was quizzed about the magic of mental fortitude: “Positivity in any life endeavour is vital, but it is incredibly fragile. How do you manage to maintain your obvious optimism – I don’t think I’ve ever seen your face without a smile!”
A grinning Tom replied, “Well obviously I don’t smile all the time, but I do focus on trying my best to enjoy every opportunity – like participating in the Speedway of Nations. It wasn’t what I was expecting so soon, and consequently I have to grab it with open arms; if I get a win, great, but if I don’t, all I can do is try my best.”
Next up was an unexpected but welcome spectator, Will Tidball, the 2023 world scratch race cycle champion, who by rights should have been preparing to travel to France for the 2024 Olympics. Given that he wasn’t preparing to participate in the headline event, I had a little more time to talk to the 24-year-old athlete: “How did you come to be at the Speedway of Nations?”
“It was a bit of a whirlwind. I rode cycle speedway from the age of six to 16. Recently – as an elite cyclist – I rode in the champions league, and the mutual television rights holders (Warner Brothers Discovery Sports) invited me along.” Cycle speedway isn’t for the faint-hearted and Will was accurate in his descriptor: a war on wheels! As for his motorcycle speedway experience, this was nurtured by his grandad at Exeter – the former home of the famous Falcons – latterly at Plymouth, and the now defunct raceway at Highbridge in Somerset.
Will’s Olympic dreams were not to be fulfilled this time round, and I wondered how he processed this huge setback. “I was very disappointed, although I could see it coming as I had contracted the Epstein-Barr virus, causing chronic fatigue. At the same time, I flipped the situation on its head. Firstly, if I’d not won a world championship last year, would anyone have been talking about me going to Paris? Secondly, I couldn’t control what was happening to my body. As a team we have strength in depth and the squad won’t miss me.”
If this level of pragmatism was exceptional, what followed was even more unexpected. When I asked what advice he would give to someone who is facing their own despondency and if any positives can be gleaned from such an experience, Will was palpably profound. “Definitely. I had a lot of free time on my hands that I wanted to fill. I caught up on all the speedway grand prix rounds on the TV, then got into growing vegetables.” Yes, Will went all-action with agriculture. “It helped to take my mind off the frustration.”
But how could such a pursuit replace the excitement of professional cycling? It couldn’t, but that wasn’t the point: “I couldn’t really do much physical activity, but I wanted to maintain routine (a significant attribute for any champion) and growing veg filled this void. I was also able to be a bit more me.” This made me reflect. The speed and agility of any demanding human endeavour may occasionally need a counterbalance: a polar opposite experience. And time in the slow lane may be just the tonic.
I am acutely aware of the often-cumbersome labels we all carry – drawn from the disparate threads associated with vocations and life choices – but how does it actually feel to be a world champion? Will didn’t miss a beat. “When I did it there was massive relief. All the sacrifices my parents had made – such as driving me here there and everywhere and missing out on holidays. No one can ever take this success away from me. It’s cool, but I also quite like it when people don’t know. And I certainly don’t like being treated differently because I’m a world champion.”
“I’ve always been ambitious. As a child pedalling my bike around my grandad’s yard, I pretended that I was a world champion speedway rider.” With a dollop of levity, he added, “Ambition is what gets you out of bed. Never be scared to dream big. If I can be a world champion than anyone can!”
The perseverance – and ambition – of our riders paid off. The global speedway event reached its climax with a deserved, yet decidedly heart-stopping win, when Robert Lambert and Dan Bewley beat Australia in the final heat to clinch the World Cup for Great Britain.
Header image: Team GB – World Cup winners! Reproduced by kind permission of Steve Hone.
© Ian Kirke 2024
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