It was late June and Jayne Paine was lying in the middle of the road with a broken hip. All thanks to an inattentive pedestrian. Her routine ride home from work was now anything but routine and her plans for the 2024 World Track Masters were now in total shreds.
Jayne has real grit and determination. Following the necessary and painful surgery to pin her hip back together, she was soon itching to climb back on the turbo. With help from her Physiotherapist and her trainer, Tony Woodford, Jayne ramped up training as much as she could physically dare. As her recovery progressed her World Track Masters goals had transformed from being a complete wipe out to a realistic and tangible goal.
Building up the power to pre-injury numbers was proving challenging to achieve in the compressed timescale. But by early September it was clear she was going to the Masters in the following month. Her goals were twofold, the individual pursuit, which is her speciality, and the 500m Time Trial. Wow! This was something myself and Mrs Back could not miss. So Eurostar tickets were quickly booked and we were set to join Jayne!
This year the Masters were held in Roubaix, though not in the celebrated open air velodrome of the Paris-Roubaix spring classic, but just across the road in the covered “Jean Stablinski” velodrome. This is a lovely new stadium with natural light pouring in from windows around the track. When we arrived, Jayne was in the centre warming up on the rollers for the individual pursuit heats in the F55/60 group.
Soon it was time to take her position in the starting gate. As the countdown began, I couldn’t help reflect on how rapidly she had progressed from hobbling around on crutches to world level racing. The last of the five second countdown bleeps sounded and it was race on! Mrs Back and I cheered and clapped each time she passed by. At the end of eight laps our hands and throat were equally raw. Jayne had won her heat and against a competitor from a younger age group. Her time was 2:34.950 and more than good enough to be through to the run off for the Gold and Silver medals later that evening.
There was now a few hours break before the final in the late afternoon. So time enough for us to wander over to the old open air velodrome. There we contemplated the cycling history forged there since it was first used for the Paris-Roubaix some 80 years ago.
In the final Jayne was up against Janet Birkmeyer, who qualified in the fastest time. It started well but after a few laps Jayne began to slip back and had to settle for the Silver medal with a time of 2:35.959. Jayne is a highly competitive athlete, so her silver medal position was tinged with some disappointment and frustration. From mine and Mrs Back’s viewpoint we thought it was a remarkable achievement given the nature of her injury and we were awed by her ability to dig deep when it mattered. Chapeau Jayne!!
Jayne receiving her Silver medal
By Miles “Ruby” Back
