Emma Cumming talks about most difficult period of her cycling career
Emma Cumming’s megawatt smile is back, and that’s no small thing.
One of the most exciting talents in New Zealand track cycling has been doing it tough since winning two medals at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018.
Injury. Surgery. Rehab. Setbacks.
For the first time Cumming has been able to talk about the hip problem which threatened not only her cycling career, but a significant piece of her identity.
“Over the last year I’ve really struggled to talk about my situation, so it’s nice to get to that stage where I can talk about it,” Cumming said from her lockdown bubble in Cambridge.
Support from the likes of her old Academy Southland programme manager Jason McKenzie, a noted mental skills coach, has helped get her to this new place.
“I just needed to get to a point where I could understand it all, more than anything, and be able to put it into words. It’s been weird. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve had something not go right. I’ve said this to Mum and Dad, it’s the first time that I’ve never been happy and I think that’s a blessing – like I’m 21 years old, I got to 20 without having a moment where I really wasn’t happy, that’s pretty unheard of,” she said.
“I never really understood mental health and how important it all is, so it’s really given me an insight into what people go through and how people struggle and how to be a bit more – I don’t know if nice is the right word – but be a bit more understanding.”
Consider just how far Cumming had come in a short space of time.
A silver medal with Olivia Podmore in the women’s team sprint at her first junior world championships in Kazakhstan in 2015 was followed by a junior world title and that coveted rainbow jersey alongside Ellesse Andrews in Switzerland a year later.
Two years later Cumming and Natasha Hansen would claim silver behind a powerful Australian pairing on the Gold Coast, with Cumming also winning bronze in the 500m time trial.
The pairing had rapidly climbed to a world ranking of fourth, the best-ever for a New Zealand women’s team sprint, and enough for the two Cycling Southland representatives to be named Southland Kia Team of the Year at last year’s ILT Southland Sports Awards.
A remarkable rise. But add in the fact that Cumming was also battling what she refers to as her “funky hips”.
The way both her hip joints were shaped meant it was difficult for her to push down into the aerodynamic position required of cyclists trying to shave off tiny percentages of time on the track. She would eventually tear her left labrum, the cartilage which cushions the hip joint, and develop tendonitis in the abductor muscles on both sides of her body. She was in great pain.
After seeing Dr Matt Brick, one of New Zealand’s top hip surgeons, Cumming underwent surgery in January last year. She was on the bike three days later and, a couple of hiccups aside, she was back into full training on the timeline which everyone expected.
“I ended up going to America to train with the (New Zealand) team, not to race but to be part of the squad environment. I had one training session where I probably pushed the boat out too much and ended up tearing my iliapsoas tendon and opening my hip capsule on my left side.”
Think about the tremendous push and pull force that sprinters generate in order to propel themselves around a velodrome and it’s not hard to understand the strain bone, tendon, cartilage and muscle is being put under.
“When you become an elite athlete you push your body every day. You push your body as much as you can. Over the last couple of years I’ve learnt how to really push my body into that red zone.”
Cumming has ongoing issues with stability in her left hip. When standing she can feel the top of her femur moving around in the hip socket.
And for the first time, Cumming has had to watch other athletes get selected and enjoy success at major competitions.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow, it’s not that you aren’t good enough, it’s that you aren’t able. Not even being able to try has been hard to handle.”
Cumming has been forced to invest in her rehabilitation and develop the core and back strength which will make her a stronger, better athlete for the remainder of her career. It’s those thoughts which drive her on.
She rates herself at about 85 to 90 percent – one of those athletes for whom the Olympic postponement was a disguised blessing. She’s enjoying the gym and has come off a four-week training block on the track where she was able to start pushing her limits again. You can see why the smile is back.
“I’m really enjoying being able to push myself on the bike. It’s something I’ve really missed and it’s something I’m not taking for granted. There are sessions which are actually killer and I’m just smiling because I’m so happy to be in that position again,” she said.
“It makes me appreciate what I do. I ride a bike for a living, not many people get to say that and I’m very proud to be able to say that. I ride a bike for a living and I absolutely love it.”
