Catherine Cheatley (née Sell; born 6 April 1983 in

Whanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...

) is a retired New Zealand professional road and track cyclist. She won two New Zealand championship titles in both road race and individual track pursuit, and later represented her nation New Zealand at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. Before her official retirement in June 2012 because of sustained bike crash-related injuries, Cheatley moved to the United States to race for the Cheerwine and pro cycling teams in the women's elite professional events on the UCI Women's World Cup, and UCI World Championships, where she earned the bronze medal for the women's points race in 2007.

Racing career

Amateur career

Professional career

Cheatley made her world championship debut at the 2007 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in

Palma de Mallorca, Spain Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

on 1 April, where she took home the bronze medal in the women's points race, adding to the individual pursuit gold she had won at the New Zealand track championships two weeks previously. Strong and impressive results landed her a spot on the United States' Cheerwine Cycling Team, which signified a start of her professional sporting career. While competing for Cheerwine under an exclusive two-year contract, Cheatley managed her team to "defend their jersey" and dominate the

Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, also known as the Longsjo Classic, was an annual road bicycle racing, bicycle stage race, race held in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, United States. The race began in 1960 as the Arthur M. Longsjo Jr ...

circuit title in 2008. Cheatley qualified for the New Zealand squad in two cycling events at the

in Beijing by receiving one of the nation's two available berths from the UCI World Cup and by finishing third in the points race from the UCI World Championships. In the women's road race, held on the second day of the Games, Cheatley posted a time of 3:41:08 to successfully complete a gruelling race with a fifty-third-place finish, trailing behind US rider and two-time Olympian

Christine Thorburn Christine Thorburn (born September 17, 1969, in Davenport, Iowa) is a retired American professional road cyclist. She became the U.S. women's individual time trial champion in 2004, and later represented the United States in two editions of the O ...

by a small amount of velocity. The following week, in the women's points race, Cheatley failed to collect a single point from the 10 scoring laps in a 25-km sprint race, finishing well down the field in seventeenth place. When the Cheerwine folded the 2008 season, Cheatley transferred to for two seasons, and then helped her women's cycling team grab an early lead on the first stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic before mounting a second place overall at the final circuit. In 2011, Cheatley won her third road race title at the

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. Shortly after, Cheatley was seriously injured in the round-the-mountain road crash around

Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, afte ...

, suffering multiple fractures of her hip that required full surgery and rehabilitation. In June 2012, Cheatley had officially retired from competitive cycling, and instead, worked on a full-time role as one of BikeNZ's regional development coordinators.

Personal life

Catherine Sell married fellow Wanganui Cycling Club member Dayle Cheatley in April 2006.

Career highlights

;2004 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

New Zealand National Road Race Championships ;2005 : 1st Overall, Women's Tour of New Zealand : 1st Oceania Games (Scratch race), Wanganui ;2006 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

New Zealand National Road Race Championships ;2007 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

New Zealand Track Cycling Championships (Pursuit),

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

(NZL) : 1st Stage 1, Nature Valley Grand Prix, United States : 2nd New Zealand Track Cycling Championships (Points race),

(NZL) : 2nd Stage 3, Nature Valley Grand Prix, United States : 2nd Stage 5, Tour de Toona, United States :

UCI Track Cycling World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

, (

Points race A points race is a mass start track cycling event involving large numbers of riders simultaneously on track. It was an Olympic event for men from 1984 to 2008 and for women from 1996 to 2008. Since 2012, the points race has been one of the omniu ...

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

(ESP) ;2008 :1st Clarendon Cup : 1st Overall,

, United States :: 1st Stage 2 :: 2nd Stage 1 : 2nd Overall, Joe Martin Stage Race, United States :: 2nd Prologue :: 2nd Stage 1 :: 3rd Stage 3 : 3rd New Zealand Championships (Criterium) : 10th

(Scratch),

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

(GBR) : 17th

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

(

), Beijing (CHN) : 53rd

(

Road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

), Beijing (CHN) ;2009 : 1st Stage 3, Tour de Vineyards, Marble Mountain (NZL) : 2nd Stage 2, Tour de Vineyards, New Zealand : 2nd Stage 2,

Tour of the Gila The Tour of the Gila is a cycling stage race for both men and women located in New Mexico, United States. It is sponsored by the component maker SRAM. The "Gila" began in 1987. Beginning in 2012, the men's Gila has been added to the UCI Americ ...

, United States : 2nd Stage 5,

, United States : 3rd Stage 1, Tour de Vineyards, New Zealand : 3rd Overall, San Dimas Stage Race, United States :: 2nd Stage 2 : 3rd Stage 2, Sea Otter Classic, United States : 3rd Stage 4,

Silver City, New Mexico Silver City is a town in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat and the home of Western New Mexico University. As of the 2010 census the population was 10,315. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,704. History ...

(NZL) : 5th Overall, Liberty Classic,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

(USA) : 10th 2009 UCI World Championships (Road),

Mendrisio Mendrisio (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura di Mendris ...

(SUI) ;2010 : 2nd Overall, Cascade Cycling Classic, United States :: 1st Stage 1 :: 2nd Stage 3 :: 2nd Stage 5 : 10th Stage 1, Tour of Chongming Island, Xizang (CHN) : 10th Stage 3, Tour of Chongming Island, Shanghai (CHN) ;2011 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

New Zealand Championships (Road),

(NZL) : 2nd Overall, Tour of New Zealand, New Zealand :: 2nd Stage 1 :: 2nd Stage 2 :: 3rd Stage 3

References

External links

* * * * *
archive
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheatley, Cath 1983 births Living people New Zealand female cyclists Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for New Zealand Sportspeople from Whanganui Cyclists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen