{"id":21634,"title":"Xan Crees","description":"What do you do with a degree in Natural Sciences? Obviously, get a job with Subway and finance cyclocross racing in Belgium. We caught up with Xan Crees and discovered how fast food powers her cyclocross. Meet the cyclocross-mad 21-year-old named after a Greek goddess who once fell in a lake riding cyclocross.","content":"

Published in<\/strong>: CYCLOCROSS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

Xan Crees out-raced Movistar professional Cat Ferguson to capture the 2025 British National Cyclocross Championship. We interviewed Xan back in late 2022 when she was working in Subway to fund her cyclocross dreams\u2026<\/p>

What do you do with a degree in Natural Sciences? Obviously, get a job with Subway and finance cyclocross racing in Belgium. We caught up with Xan Crees and found out how the fast-food chain funds her dreams.<\/p>

\"XanI interviewed the cyclocross-mad 21-year-old just after she\u2019d finished her shift at Subway and before heading off for a cyclocross skills session.<\/p>

Journey<\/h3>

I opened by asking Xan about the journey that had brought her to a car park outside Subway in Derby.<\/p>

Her interest in cycling was kindled at an early age by watching her dad compete in 24-hour mountain bike races. She'd loved those weekends away and swore that one day she\u2019d be competing and winning.<\/p>

It was the 2012 Olympics, just as she entered her teenage years that kickstarted her real ambition. Within a few months of riding for the local club Derby Mercury, she found herself lining up for the Derby National Trophy. Her potential was spotted by John Holmes of Team Empella and she switched to their cyclocross team.<\/p>

\"XanDrained after another hard race in Belgium<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

After several years of steady improvement in cyclocross, she was invited to join Team Spectra Wiggle p\/b Vitus for the 2021-22 season which culminated with a silver medal in the under-23 UK National title behind victor Harriet Harnden (Trek Factory Racing). Whilst she\u2019s competed in road races and mountain bike events, it\u2019s cross that owns her heart.<\/p>

They\u2019re the only people who\u2019d have me<\/p><\/blockquote>

She\u2019s been racing in Belgium since 2016 and the recent support of Team Spectra has helped enormously but she still needs money to enable her to race regularly. Hence the job in Subway. But why Subway, I ask? \u201cThey\u2019re the only people who\u2019d have me,\u201d she laughs. Xan had never had a job before and employers were reluctant to take a chance on her. Xan recently graduated from Loughborough University and maybe her degree was a deterrent to some too.<\/p>

\"XanReceiving the under-23 silver medal at the UK National Cyclocross Championships<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Fortunately, a new Subway outlet was opening and they were short of staff. Within a few months of starting, she\u2019d been promoted to assistant manager.<\/p>

Insane<\/h3>

Why does Xan love Belgian cyclocross so much? \u201cIt\u2019s just insane. The screaming of the fans, the intensity of the atmosphere\u201d As she points out, the elite women\u2019s races at the UK\u2019s National Trophy series get good, vocal crowds, but in Belgium, it\u2019s at a whole different level.<\/p>

It motivates her to keep pushing on, even when her legs are burning and don\u2019t want to. Some of the support, however, is more welcome than others. In her early races in Belgium, Xan was often \u201ceighty-percented\u201d. This is the UCI rule whereby riders who are more than 80% slower than the leader are pulled out of the race before the finish. <\/a>Once she\u2019d improved, survived the time cut and made it to the last lap, she\u2019d often find she was the last rider on the course and as much as eight minutes down. Many of the fans would high-five her to indicate their admiration for her perseverance and give further encouragement. But not all. Not infrequently, more inebriated fans would laugh out loud at her and make derogatory remarks.<\/p>

First lap crashes<\/h3>

If I miss the first-lap crash, it feels like a result<\/p><\/blockquote>

Apart from the fans and the noise, what are the biggest differences between racing in the UK and Belgium? \u201cThe starts,\u201d Xan replies in earnest. \u201cThey\u2019re crazy. If I miss the first-lap crash, it feels like a result.\u201d<\/p>

\"DeterminationDetermination is written across Xan\u2019s face<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

With large fields in the elite races and such a high standard of performance, everyone knows that the first lap is critical. If you don\u2019t make a good start, you can lose minutes just on the opening lap. It\u2019s not helped, as Xan observes, that organisers in Belgium love to include a bottle-kneck soon after the start.<\/p>

The result is often carnage, as I\u2019ve frequently witnessed watching cyclocross on TV. Maybe it helps with the viewing figures. TV directors do love a replay of a crash, even if it involves a rider well down the leaderboard.<\/p>

Ambitions<\/h3>

Where do Xan\u2019s ambitions lie? Like many young riders, she wants to be picked up by a team and offered a contract to race full-time. Hence her desire to showcase her talents in Belgium. She plans regular weekend trips to Belgium until November when she intends to base herself there full-time.<\/p>

\"XanOn her way to second place at the UK National Championships<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

As well as her savings from Subway, she\u2019s also begun to be offered start money by race organisers. As they like to say in the advert, \u201cevery little helps\u201d.<\/p>

The standard is much higher<\/p><\/blockquote>

Whilst she\u2019s made consistent incremental improvements in her results, she acknowledges she needs to make another big step up. Xan\u2019s convinced the only way is to continue to race regularly in Belgium. The standard is much higher both in terms of ultimate fitness but also technical skills.<\/p>

Xan\u2019s found that no matter how much she\u2019s improved, there\u2019s always someone pushing hard throughout the races in Belgium. No course is easy. There are always skills tests that demand the very best from competitors.<\/p>

Sand challenge<\/h3>

Sand is a particular challenge, especially as it is rarely encountered in the UK. When it is, it tends to be for short man-made sections. The UK just doesn\u2019t have sand courses like Zilvermeer or the famous training circuit at Lichtaart.<\/p>

\"XanXan is grateful for the support from Team Spectra Wiggle p\/b Vitus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

<\/p>

Xan and her fellow crossers used to be able to train on a section of sand, not far from where she lives. Unfortunately, the local council barricaded the area off during the Covid pandemic and has yet to open it up again.<\/p>

Her aim is to stand out against the best competition and be able to consistently finish in the top twenty. Last season, in her first regularly racing in Belgium, she achieved twentieth-place finishes against the very best at Ruddervoorde and the Jaarmarktcross.<\/p>

So far this year, she\u2019s earned 15th against a very strong field at the Poldercross and third at the Derby round of the UK\u2019s National Trophy series. She\u2019s delighted with the latter as it\u2019s her local round and she feels it\u2019s never gone well there in the past.<\/p>

Cyclocross World Cup<\/h3>

She\u2019d love to ride more rounds of the World Cup, having ridden five rounds in the 2021-22 season, with a best of 35th at Rucphen in the Netherlands. It\u2019s an expensive business, though. British Cycling makes it quite clear, in red type, that those selected will not receive any funding or help in the pits.<\/p>

\"Xan\u2019sXan\u2019s friends think she\u2019s mad<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Xan loves the racing but not the travelling which she found quite wearisome by the end of the season. She\u2019s not overly keen on travelling alone. On occasion, she\u2019s resorted to asking non-cycling friends if they fancy a Belgian adventure, just for the company. What do her non-cycling friends think? \u201cOh, it\u2019s OK, they all think I\u2019m mad anyway.\u201d<\/p>

The Greek Goddess and the lake<\/h3>

I was intrigued by Xan\u2019s name. It sounds so exotic. Apparently, her parents had a Greek friend named \u201cXan\u201d after whom she was named. Only later did they realise it was the diminutive for Alexandra, the Greek Goddess \u201cwho comes to save warriors\u201d.<\/p>

And the lake? Xan was warming up for a race at Holme Pierrepont Country Park, home of the National Water Sports Centre near Nottingham. As she rode around the edge of the lake she spotted a rider heading in the opposite direction, so she moved down closer to the water\u2019s edge.<\/p>

Unfortunately so too did the other rider. With classic British politeness, she moved even closer and promptly fell in. Ten minutes before the start and she was drenched from head to toe.<\/p>

Plan B<\/h3>

If she fails to make a splash on the continental cyclocross scene, Xan can always fall back on her degree in Natural Sciences. It\u2019s a multi-disciplinary subject that includes Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics and opens many potential doors. And if that fails, there\u2019s always a career in fast food.<\/p>

Good luck to Xan during the coming cyclocross season.<\/p>

14 October 2022, Tim Costello.<\/em><\/p>

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