AUG Athlete Profile: Patrick Burt

Patrick Burt

SPORT: Cycling

FACULTY: Engineering

NICKNAME: Paddy

PROUDEST SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT TO DATE: 2nd place at the 2014 u/19 Victorian Metro Road Championships was a bit of a break through result for me

AMBITIONS: My current racing goals are the Melbourne to Warrnambool Race in October and then the under 23 National Road Cycling Championships in January next year. I’m also aiming to get a place on a National Road Series team for 2016

HOW MANY AUG’S HAVE YOU COMPETED IN? 2015 will be my first AUG

WHEN DID YOU START COMPETING? I’ve been cycling competitively for about 3 years now and I rode recreationally for a couple of years before that

WHAT GOT YOU STARTED COMPETING? I competed in triathlons for a few years through my school’s sport program and I enjoyed it a lot but I found that I wasn’t a good enough runner and didn’t enjoy running enough to be really competitive so I started pursuing cycling more seriously and found I loved it.

FAVOURITE PLAYER GROWING UP? Simon Gerrans

FAVOURITE COURSE? There’s a race that does laps around the Phillip Island Moto GP circuit which I really like. It’s a reasonably tough course on a bike and the weather is usually quite windy and often wet so it makes for a tough but exciting race

UNDERDOG OR FAVOURITE? Underdog. I respond well to a challenge and where’s the challenge in people expecting you to win?

BEFORE A RACE I ALWAYS...I try not to have too many pre-race rituals or anything like that. There’s usually enough going on before the start of a race without complicating it more. I just try to relax and make sure I do my warm-up well and eat the right stuff and that my bike and equipment is set up and ready to go, that’ll usually keep me pretty busy.

WHEN I’M NOT AT UNI, COMPETING OR TRAINING I AM... probably sleeping

FUN FACT: I have a weakness for Nutella and banana on toast