Cycling to success with Amy Gillett Scholarship

Promoting a shared respect between motorists and cyclists

Cycling to success with Amy Gillett Scholarship

13^th April 2007

Young Queenslander Selected for Coveted Scholarship (click for biography)

The Amy Gillett Foundation in partnership with Cycling Australia/AIS High Performance Program today announced 21 year old Queensland based Carla Ryan as the 2007 recipient of the annual Amy Gillett Scholarship.

Amy Gillett Foundation General Manager Melinda Jacobsen explains the motivation behind the Scholarship, which provides outstanding financial and in-kind support for its cycling recipient.

"Each year we look to support a well-rounded female athlete who is not only determined and capable of excelling in the sport of cycling, but who acknowledges the importance of continued further education and life off the bike," said Ms Jacobsen.

The dual emphasis on work and learning reflects the qualities successfully pursued by elite cyclist Amy Gillett before she was killed whilst on a training ride in Germany. The scholarship honours the memory of Amy by supporting young female cyclists who share in her similar sporting and life goals.

The news come fresh after Miss Ryan's Tour de Sunshine Coast win over the Easter weekend.

Living and training in Queensland, Miss Ryan is a member of the QAS program and started her competitive cycling career in 2005. Since then, her impressive achievements include first

time trial placing and third position in the under 23 age group of the 2007 Open National Road Championships and first in the 2007 Elite Women's Le Race New Zealand.

Miss Ryan was ecstatic with the news:

"This is a wonderful opportunity and such a great honour to receive so early in my sporting career. It is going to make a significant difference to the year ahead and will remove a lot of the financial burdens I would have otherwise encountered. I am currently studying for my Certificate IV in Fitness and would like to continue studying sports nutrition as well. The Amy Gillett Foundation scholarship is a big helping hand for me to achieve these goals," said Miss Ryan. "It is also wonderful that the legacy of Amy Gillett continues through sporting scholarships such as this. Amy clearly had a big impact on the sporting community and the Australian psyche in general, so I am quite humbled to receive this," she said.

The Scholarship provides a mixture of financial and in-kind incentives to the annual recipient including financial assistance with travel, accommodation and expenses whilst competing overseas with the AIS Women's team; a Giant road bike for training and competition, courtesy of Giant Bicycles; eye wear products courtesy of Oakley and access to AIS clinical services during training camps at the AIS.

Miss Ryan will now focus her energies on preparing for the Canberra Tour (end April) the Oceania Games (early May) and for selection to the World Cup in Montreal, Canada (early June).