Feature: Interview with St Mary’s Graduate Corrine Hall

Corrine Hall, 22, a recent Sports Science graduate at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham has enjoyed a successful sporting career after winning Gold at the Paracycling World Cup and the Belgium Paracycling Tandem Tour earlier this year. She sheds some light on her sporting career and her future ambitions. What did you study and why did you choose the subject? I studied Sports Science at St Mary’s. Initially I started on the Strength and Conditioning course, however I wasn't too keen on the amount of weightlifting we were required to do as it didn't fit with my training, so I swapped to Sports Science. How have you been involved in St Mary’s SIMMSport programme? Throughout my final year at university I was part of the SIMMSport coaching team. I helped coach the athletics session on a Monday night and Saturday morning. This is something I really enjoyed and it gave me confidence, unfortunately I am unable to continue coaching due to my cycling commitments. What are your plans now that you have graduated? I have just been accepted to study an MSc in Strength and Conditioning at St Mary's, which I am really looking forward to. Switching degrees in my first year is something I regret as I now have a big passion for strength and conditioning. However, completing the Sports Science degree has given me knowledge in many aspects within sport, so now I am able to focus on a specific area. How did you get started in cycling/paracycling? I have been cycling for nine years now, predominately on the road and track, with a bit of cyclo-cross mixed in. As a junior I was part of the Olympic Development Program, where I competed in a number of European championships. In March 2013 I was invited out to Majorca with the Great Britain Paracycling team to ride the tandem, piloting the visually impaired cyclists. It's something that has interested me for a while and therefore too good of an opportunity to turn down. Since then I have competed with and piloted my stoker Lora Turnham at the tandem tour of Belgium and the Paracycling World Cup in Spain. We won all three events and are now leading the World Cup Series. What competitions are you training for at the moment? As a result of our recent success, we have been selected to compete at the Paracycling World Championships and the final World Cup in Canada at the end of August. We have the leader’s jersey to defend at the World Cup and hope that our success continues at the World Championships. As a result I am now part of the Great Britain Paracycling Team, training full time in Manchester where I relocated last week. What about the future? As a pairing our long term goal is Rio in 2016, so we are obviously training hard for that. What’s your fondest memory of St Mary’s? My fondest memory of St Mary's has to be winning Sports Woman of the Year 2013 at the annual SU Sports and Societies awards, as I really didn't expect it. Unfortunately I wasn't around to collect the award as I was on a training camp with the GB Team, but Will Heather collected it on my behalf. Will was the one who nominated me, so I have to thank him for the award. You can follow Corrine on Twitter @corrinehall