THE golden post box designated to Olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy may be in his home town of Huddersfield, but the three-time Olympic medallist is not short of connections to Wiltshire.

His mother Cathy teaches in Kington St Michael Primary School, while his relatives live just over the Gloucestershire border in Tetbury, so Clancy was no stranger to the area when he appeared at the 9Bar Chilly Duathlon on Sunday.

“There’s close to 1,000 people here, it’s a really good event, it’s good to see people turn out,” Clancy said as the Chilly Duathlon more than lived up to its name amid very low temperatures.

Clancy won his first Olympic gold medal five years ago, in the team pursuit, before retaining his title in London last year as well as taking a bronze medal in the omnium.

“It’s always a tricky year following an Olympic year, you know British Cycling works on an Olympic cycle, so on the track side of it, it’s always very hard to get motivated and you start at the bottom before you work your way up over the next three years again,” he said.

“There’s also more and more talk of Cav (Mark Cavendish) and Brad (Sir Bradley Wiggins) sticking their foot in the team pursuit door so that’s great news, it’s what you want to hear, the more people we have the better.

“The track will get more and more exciting as we approach Rio but the road (racing) is going really well.”

Clancy’s teammate for the day, Peter Brookes, made a last-minute dash to the start of the race, but while Brookes set off on his two-mile run, a relaxed Clancy looked ahead to 2014 and his desire to make an impact in Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games next summer.

“It’s going to be a tricky road season. While the Commonwealth Games are a big deal, I want to do well for the road team (Clancy rides for the Rapha Condor JLT team), that’s how we pay the bills really,” he said.

“(There are) Commonwealth Games off the back of that, we’re going to try and slot that in, I’ve never done anything at the Commonwealth Games so I want to try and pop a medal or two somewhere.

“As soon as we’re out of that Commonwealth Games period, the winter of 2014 is really time to start thinking about Rio then.

“It only feels like yesterday we were riding around the Olympic Velodrome in London but it’s going to be all go again soon.”

Scotland were the only home nation to pick up a cycling gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and with a busy road race schedule ahead, Clancy is well aware of having to balance his many commitments.

“Logistically, planning your time and your diary is not easy at all, you’ve got two bosses Dave Brailsford (British Cycling performance director) and John Herety, your road manager, and you know these days you’ve got your private sponsors and your agents all competing for your time, it’s not easy to keep everyone happy but that’s life,” he said.

After completing his 10k cycle in just 20 minutes, Clancy signed off from the event by handing out the Duathlon prizes, the DB Max Triathlon club winning the women’s team event and Worcester Triathlon Club the men’s.

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