Cyclist Millie Donald in fine form

Millie Donald powers up Mount Wellington, Auckland, during the schools' northern tour. Photo / Craig Gerken

It has been a busy and rewarding year for promising young cyclist Millie Donald.

Donald, who turns 16 in mid-January, was a joint winner of the Cycling category in the College Sport Wellington Sportsperson of the Year Awards, and was Kāpiti College’s top individual sportsperson for Year 11.

Donald, from Raumati South, took part in various national age group road and mountain biking competitions/tours around the country throughout the year, claiming various titles. She was “very happy and proud” of her achievements throughout the year.

A key moment in the school road nationals was one of her highlights of the year.

“I’m not so much of a sprinter, so I’ll end up in a breakaway and then get outsprinted at the finish.

“But I had been doing some interval stuff to help [me] get better at sprinting.

“At the nationals, three of us got into a breakaway.

“One of the girls was at a similar sprinting level to me, but the other would always beat me.

“Coming into the finish, one of the girls started sprinting really early, which kind of helped me because I sat in behind.

“And then the really fast one started going, still quite far away, but I could get past her.

“I was so happy, because I had never been able to outsprint someone like her before.”

One of her last events of the year was the Whaka 100 mountain bike race in Rotorua.

“In the 50-kilometre race I was about [the] seventh woman overall, and in my age group I was third.”

She’s had a bit of a break, but is building up her endurance again, as another year of competitive racing looms.

One of the events is the national mountain bike series at the start of next year, which has been added to the calendar.

Millie Donald. Photo / David Haxton

She recently joined the Kiwi Mountainbike Collective, a team that takes riders to Europe.

“It’s a pretty good team.

“I might end up focusing more on mountain biking next year.”

Donald has various bikes, but one stands out from the rest.

“My mountain bike is Anton Cooper’s old Cannondale from about seven years ago.

“Cooper is the elite national champion.

“We bought it off someone who bought it from him, so it’s third-hand.

“But it’s a nice, light bike - so we got it.”

Donald got into cycling when her father Mark Donald bought her “a really tiny road bike when I was about nine or so”.

“He took me to a few criteriums that were held by one of the Wellington clubs around the Hutt, and then he got me into the track, which is at the Wellington Velodrome in Haitaitai.”

There’s a lot she loves about the sport.

“I’m quite competitive, so I really like racing.

“And when you go to races, you end up making a bunch of friends with the other girls you’re racing against.

“It’s really fun to socialise and be competitive.”