Every tale of sporting stardom is underpinned by sacrifice at some point.
Be it the foregoing of family time, the departure from home or the hours given to relentless self-betterment.
For Alness cyclist Kyle Gordon, his ascension to Commonwealth Games athlete was a whirlwind six-month turnaround that has seen him go from the road to the track and snatch a place in the Team Scotland squad in late January.
Along the way, Gordon has given up his job off-shore and will also miss his sister Eilidh’s wedding to compete for his country in Australia. But such sacrifices have come with his family’s blessing.
Gordon said: “I mentioned it to my mum and my sister and they said ‘fantastic, when is it?’ The track cycling is on from April 6 to the 15th and my sister’s wedding is on the 7th. I told her I’d just left work as well and I felt bad, but they have been so supportive of me and told me to go for it because it’s my dream.
“It was on the back-burner last summer and I was humming and hawing about. But it was one nightshift I was sat on my tea break and I thought ‘there’s more to life than this’. I had to do it. It would be a six-month sacrifice to reach the performance criteria and a few months longer if I made the Games. It was a huge financial gamble, so I’m glad it worked out.
“I’m a plumber and pipe-fitter by trade and worked on the rigs in the North Sea for the Wood Group. They’ve been fantastic; they said whenever I was ready to come back, just to let them know. My coach, Peter Ettles, said to just go for it and my a great friend of mine, Sandy Wallace, said I would regret it if I didn’t.”
Gratitude is a common theme for 29-year-old Gordon, who is still based in the small Ross-shire village of Ardross, 10 miles east of Alness. He has made regular trips to train with Scottish Cycling in Glasgow, who offered him training facilities and additional coaching despite him not being a member of the team.
Parking his work commitments for the time being and being able to focus full-time on cycling was the metaphorical weight off the shoulders. Gordon would think nothing of coming off a 14-hour night shift and then going straight into the gym for a training session.
A velodrome has been mooted in Inverness for a number of years, as part of plans for a sports hub in the West Link project in the east of the city. Such a development would make Gordon’s life easier but also those he feels might miss out on their chance of success.
He said: “If Inverness had a velodrome it would be unreal. There’s a lot of talent in the north and there are youngsters who maybe cannot afford to go back and forth to Glasgow. Their nearest track is nearly four hours away. It’s never been easy for people from the north and it’s taken years to get used to the travelling. But the big championships are down south and it becomes the norm.”
His love for cycling came from his dad Mike, who got him his first bike and made him work it off by doing jobs round the house. He started racing mountain-bike racing in 2003 in the Scottish cross-country series before getting a road bike from friend Donald Stephenson at 18, where he “fell in love” with the sport.
Time-trial racing was his forte and he only made the transition to track cycling six months prior to his selection in February, hitting the two required 4:25 times set by Scottish Cycling, for the 4000m individual pursuit by the end of January. That is his main event but he will also compete in the points race, scratch race and the 168km road race. But he hopes to add one more to the list.
Gordon said: “There’s four endurance males going out and only three spots for the time trial. I’m wanting to do it because that’s what I specialise in but I know everyone is in the same boat.”
Inevitably the dream is to bring a medal back for Scotland and the Highlands but there is still part of him that scarcely believes his dream has become reality.
He said: “We’ve been told we’re not going to make up the numbers – we’ve proved we’ve got the required standard. Medalling would be some experience and I still can’t believe it’s eight months since I spoke to work and told them I wanted to do this.”
• Gordon gets his Games underway in the 4000m individual pursuit on April 6.