'I have things that I need to work on, but I am good enough to be here' - meet Britain's best domestic female cyclo-crosser

Ffion Drake started the British cyclo-cross National Trophy Series with a quarter of wins. In Derby she took first by 23 seconds, in Falkirk by one minute, 52 seconds and in Clanfield she won by one minute and 14 seconds. Once she’d crossed the line in West Bromwich in first on 16 November, the overall title was already hers - despite another two rounds to go.

But the 26-year-old’s first real hurdle this season came at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Flamanville - Drake’s first ever. Her wheel buckled underneath her, sending her straight over the handlebars and landing flat on her chest. It was only when the last embers of adrenaline had left her that she realised the extent of her injuries. She still managed to finish 18th, somehow.

‘When you have a lung contusion, it feels like you've got a chest infection without the fever and the phlegm, so it's just not very nice, really,’ Drake said in what I learn is a typical nonchalance when it comes to diagnosing her own injuries - despite being a trained doctor.

“It's really hard to be objective about yourself, especially as an athlete like you just like, Ah, I'm sure it's fine.”

So, who is this cyclo-cross star? Talking to Drake away from her bike, the first thing you notice is her energy - she’s light and funny and humble. I ask her what it’s like competing at these events knowing that the field is missing some of its big names - Xan Crees, Zoe Bäckstedt, Cat Ferguson.

“I remember racing Zoe at my first national championships in 2023. That was insane,” Drake laughed. “I am nowhere near that level but it doesn't mean that I don't aim to be there. I've got a long way to go. But, you know, I like to aim high. Having the ability to race someone like that, even if you hang on for a quarter of a lap the first time, and then it's half a lap the next time, and then it's a lap the next time… It's a stepping stone.”

Drake’s first stepping stone was laid when she was a young child, razzing about on her Isla bike, out cycling with her Dad. Her chosen hobby flipped when she turned 12, and she ditched the bike to become a county swimmer. But it was in the slog of medical school, and the ensuing mental health challenges that accompanied its intensity, that she took up cyclo-cross.

It was around this time that she met her now-husband, Giles, too. A cyclist himself, he built Drake’s first adult bike in 2020. By 2022, she was competing in her first national cyclo-cross race.

“As someone who'd never really paid much attention to cycling, it just looked a bit silly and fun. And I think it came at a point in my life where I needed something else. I was struggling quite a lot mentally throughout university, and that continued into when I was working as a doctor as well, and having something new and exciting that diversified my mind and mentally gave me a break from stuff... I think that was one of the biggest draws for me.”

“You could be thinking about a billion different things on the start line, but as soon as the whistle goes, you're fully 100% focused.”

In her first two and a half years as a doctor, she completed her first three seasons of cyclocross on the national scene. In her first year, she finished in the top five at the Paignton round of the National Trophy Series.

“To be honest, it was a massive struggle to even train after work, because I was doing nights. One week I'm pretty sure I did a 72 hour week, and then the following week I had a race. It wasn't healthy.

“The next year, I had an hour commute one way. So I was commuting two hours, whilst training and trying to race. I ended my season early because I got so burnt out, and mentally I was in an absolute hole. And the year after, I just about managed to get a bit more of a balance. I didn't race very much. I was still struggling mentally and still struggling to get all the training in."

In December 2024, Drake stopped working as a doctor. “Not because of the cycling, it was a personal decision that I'd made that it just didn't work for me anymore,” she said.

“I just want to sort of clear the air and say I wasn't able to race at this level when I was working full time as a doctor. It was not possible. And I don't think it's healthy for anybody to try and do that.”

Drake is currently working in a bike salvage and insurance shop. Working part time in a flexible job means that she can fit training around her work in a way she never could before. There are still parts of competitive cyclo-cross racing she finds difficult - the technical nuance needed to corner, dodging the elbows that come out in continental racing ("historically, I've been quite a gentle competitor"), working out optimal weight distribution and shifting.

But right now, she’s recouping after her Flamanville crash at home on the Wirral, saving her strength for the last round of the National Trophy Series in Irvine next month. In this pre-Christmas pause before racing picks up again, she's allowing herself to enjoy the season's success.

“Going into the season, I'd said to the other half that I never actually felt like I'd won anything,” she said. “I'd won local stuff, but to be able to win it against the best in the country is another feeling and something that I really wanted this year. Passing that line, knowing that I'd done everything I could since last cross season to be in the best shape possible… it was an amazing feeling. It sort of felt like, actually, I do belong here. I have things that I need to work on, but I am good enough to be here.’