GB cyclists’ horror flight home from the European Track Championships
"There were people being sick, people were saying we were going to die," recalled Andy Tennant.
Britain’s cyclists may have cleaned up at the European Track Championships in Guadeloupe, but they made a bit of a mess on a horror flight home.
Flying home via Paris last Tuesday, their Air France plane undertook three aborted landings at Manchester Airport in strong crosswinds, before it was forced to head south and land in less challenging conditions at Gatwick.
“If you look really closely, you’ll see me in the video [above] about 10 rows back throwing up. It was horrible,” recalled endurance squad rider Elinor Barker, who added that she “normally isn’t a bad flyer.”
Andy Tennant, who took two golds in Guadeloupe, did not suffer nausea but recalled what life was like onboard.
“There were people being sick, others were saying we were going to die,” he said. “The cabin was a right mess afterwards.
“I wasn’t too bothered – if we were going to go down, as long as it nosedived and ended pretty quickly, that would have been OK!”
To make matters worse, Tennant and team-mate Ed Clancy’s luggage was misplaced, meaning the pair had to hire a van to complete the journey to the north west.
“We got back at 2am in the morning, basically 24 hours after we had set off,” added Tennant.