Golden girl Alison proving age really is just a number
When Alison Salthouse started cycling at 53 to 'improve her health' she did not expect to be a British Masters Cycling champion in two events 10 years later.
The 63-year-old won the 500m Time Trail and the 200m Match Sprint at the British Masters in Newport, South Wales in September.
The Telford-based cyclist trains six days a week often at the velodromes in Manchester or Derby, paying her own coach and working full-time as an IT Project Manager in order to fund her racing.
And Ms Salthouse, originally from Preston, cannot believe how good she has become.
"I wanted to do something to improve my health. I played football in my late teens, but I did nothing then until I was in my mid-50s," she said when asked what it was that made her take up racing.
"I thought, I need to start doing something. I don't want to become a couch potato.
"I started riding just a three-mile route from home, and I was out of breath.
"Who would believe I would get hooked on the velodrome riding a bike at that speed with no gears and no brakes and find that you are actually good at it."
In the 500m Time Trial, one of the events she won gold, she explained that she started from a standstill and beat her competition by more than two seconds.
Which is a big margin in a race that short with a finishing time of 43.992 seconds.
The Match Sprint was a much closer affair, and she just pipped Kathleen McCormac to the gold, her opponent has been cycling since she was nine.
This event included three and a half laps to gain speed before going for an all-out sprint on the final lap to find a winner.
Ms Salthouse also came runner-up in the Individual Pursuit where she was beaten by Lindsay Clarke, who smashed the British record by almost six seconds.
She says she wishes she had discovered the sport earlier in life and also revealed how she rubs shoulders with some of Britain's Olympic champions when she trains.
She continued: "I wish I had found it when I was younger. I didn't. But I am so glad that I have now.
"You just never know until you have a go at it.
"I am still getting personal bests in my sixties.
"I train on the same track as Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny, and they think I am fascinating.
"I will be in the changing, and they say to me, 'I hope we are still riding like you when we are your age'."
Next year she is hoping to win gold at the World Championships when they come to Manchester.
