Interview wth Shelly Woods
by Shannon Martin

Shelly Woods

Shelly Woods, from Great Britain, will be racing in the ING New York City Marathon 2006 as one of the top professional female wheelers. At only 20-years-old, Woods astounded everybody at the ING New York City Marathon 2005. She raced with the lead women the entire race and finished in a strong third place.

Paralyzed from the waist down when she fell out of a tree at age 11, Woods turned to sports. She began wheelchair racing at the age of 15 and now holds the British record in the 5000 meters. This year, Woods finished second at the Flora London Marathon in April and won a bronze medal in the 5000 meters at the European Championships. Woods, who drives herself to and from training sessions, works in the recreation department for her local city government.

Fast-women.com caught up with Woods over email a week before the ING New York City Marathon 2006. Though the interview took place in cyberspace, Woods’ pleasant personality, eloquence, and positive attitude certainly shine through. This is the exchange that took place.

Fast-Women.com: Last year, you performed amazingly well in the ING New York City Marathon. It was your debut in the race; you raced in the lead pack for the entire race and placed third. Now that you have experienced the race, do you have any time or place goals for this year’s marathon?
Shelly Woods: New York is the toughest marathon I’ve done and would love to win this race. I would really love to place better than third and of course, course records are always a goal. This year’s race will be exciting and wide open with loads of talent.

FW: In a recent interview, you mentioned that one of your disabled athlete role models is Chantal Petitclerc, who won five gold medals in the Athens Paralympics. Have you raced against her in the past? How does it feel to be competing against her in this year’s ING New York City Marathon?
SW: Yes Chantal is an awesome athlete. She’s set the standards and is at the top of her game. Now, all the girls are following and wanting to go faster. I have raced her a few times on the track. I think it’s excellent that she will be racing in this years ING New York City marathon and will be interesting as she doesn’t usually race a lot on the road.

FW: You were scouted in your mid-teens by Jason Gill, a wheelchair athlete himself. Can you tell me a bit about his coaching style?
SW: Jason coached me for 5 years, since we met, when I started at 15.

He is a very tough coach, but at the same time, he's fun. He has high standards and always expects 100 percent effort in everything. He has lots of energy and enthusiasm and knew how to whip me into shape. He taught me self discipline and how to use it in training and racing. We understood each other and I trusted in what he was teaching and what he wanted me to do, so I just did as I was told and asked questions later.

Sadly, due to commitments, we had to go our separate ways, but he did a great job with me and I know he will be of great benefit to any other serious wheelchair athlete.