Meet unstoppable athlete Vanessa Quinn

* Name: Vanessa Quin.
* Age: 27.
* World famous for: A raft of BMX and mountainbike wins, including the 2004 world women's downhill mountainbiking title, the British BMX champs, the Subaru NZ National series, the Oceania championships and the Mount Maunganui downhill race.
* Lives in: Billinge, a village near Liverpool, England.
* Day job:Works in a bike shop.
* Partner: Nigel Page, Liverpool lad and fellow champion mountainbiker.
* How did you get into mountainbiking? When I was 11, my older brother Ben started BMX racing. Then my younger brother, Simon, took it up as well. I'd been into all kinds of sport but I'd never raced a bike. At 11, I was also a shocking spectator, so I said to Dad: 'If we're going to keep coming to BMX, I'll have to have a bike'. So he bought me one.
* Were you always a natural on two wheels? At first I was shocking. But we spent a lot of time over the next few years BMX racing - it's a great family sport - and I won the national age-group title when I was 14.
* How and when did you make the transition to mountainbiking? I continued [BMX racing] until I was 18, then I went to university in Auckland. A friend of mine lent me a mountain bike to get around and keep fit; he'd been a BMX-er when he was younger and got into mountainbike racing. He started taking me to downhill races and I really enjoyed it. I took part in my first national series in 1996 and got second overall, then I went to the world champs in Cairns later that year.
* That must have been a huge buzz for a girl from Tauranga: It was just awesome, I just loved it. There were loads of American and European professionals getting paid a lot of money. It was just so cool and I thought: "This is what I want to do". So I went back to university and finished my degree - a BA in history - and in 1998, decided to do three months of the US series and finish off with the worlds.
* Competing on the world circuit is expensive. How did an impoverished student manage that? I did all sorts of things to raise money - raffles, loads of different stuff. I think I had more guts than skill in those days. But I got really lucky. I met Toby Henderson, who was running Giant Bikes USA at the time; he had been following my form and asked me if I wanted to be on the Giant team. Toby was a US BMX pro and I had met him in Tauranga when I was 12. Then, when I was 19, he gave me my first mountainbike ride on an international team. It's funny how things work out.
* How did things progress from there? I spent that summer travelling with Toby and his mechanic. I was just hooked after that. I just wanted to keep going back. I had one good result that year; I beat some US pros at a race at Lake Taho, California. The rest of the season I got pretty average results. I was still pretty green, so it was a good learning curve for me. After that, I made sure I stayed in contact with people over there and the opportunities kept happening. I focused on the Norba, which is the prestigious US national series, for the next three seasons, then I did my first World Cup series in 2001.
* How did you meet Nigel? I met him a couple of years ago, when I was riding for a US bike company called Intense. Nigel was just another team-mate; I had no designs on him really. Then we just started going out. The last couple of summers he has come home to New Zealand with me to visit. Because Nigel races as well, life's pretty easy. He's one of the top UK racers and a top-10 world cup rider. He has brilliant skills and he has taught me loads this year. It's harder if your partner is not into the sport - it can be really difficult. We always travel together as part of the team. Nigel's been injured this season and I had to con him into coming to the worlds - he hates watching, he'd rather be riding. I was really glad he came to Les Gets for the worlds; he was so stoked when I won. I'd hardly got off the bike when he rugby-tackled me.
* Is it possible to make a living at mountainbike racing, or do you need a day job? I've got really good sponsors in New Zealand; Red Bull, Subaru and G-Shock are my main ones. But I do still work at a bike shop. I don't mind going to work, it keeps you keen and motivated as well. You can still make a living at racing but the money's not what it used to be. I've never done it for the money. It's more about chasing [the winner's] rainbow jersey.
* Just before Christmas 2000, you had a serious accident that put you in hospital. How do your mum and dad cope with your daredevil antics? I think Mum's used to it now, she's seen all us kids with bumps and bruises. But I do feel sorry for her when I ring up and say: "Oh Mum, I'm in hospital again".
* Are your parents supportive of your sporting career? They both are. Dad marshalls the Mount Maunganui downhill race and Mum helps with the timing. They've always been quite "into it" parents, but not pushy. They're happy to see us do our best but they've never pushed - which is great, because I've matured at my own pace. I probably get my daredevil side from Dad - he's been into car racing and stuff like that. Mum's always kept us kids and Dad under control.
* How long do you see yourself continuing on the BMX and mountainbiking stage? I've got my eye on the 2006 mountainbike worlds at Rotorua, which is a massive deal for New Zealand. There have been no world championships in the southern hemisphere since 1996. They attract huge crowds. When we go to Japan to race, 40,000 people come to watch. At Les Gets, they were reporting 30,000-35,000. The whole town was buzzing. Rotorua's going to be great. I'm pretty keen to still be racing when that's on, but I haven't thought past that.