Chichester Deliveroo rider to compete among fastest in UK

A Chichester Deliveroo rider will fight for her spot as one of the of the fastest in the country tomorrow.
Lucy Stares in her riding equipmentLucy Stares in her riding equipment
Lucy Stares in her riding equipment

Lucy Stares,36, lives in Walnut Avenue and began riding for Deliveroo two years ago following a career in restaurants.

Tomorrow (Wednesday September 11) she will appear on London's Olympic Park Velodrome wheel-to-wheel with four other riders for the women's finals.

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The race will ascertain who the country's fastest Deliveroo rider is.

The semi-final races took place across nine regions including at the Preston Park Velodrome in Brighton in which Lucy saw herself ride to victory. A total of 29 people across the country made it through.

Lucy used to work in restaurants but said she made the step to being a Deliveroo rider to help with her mental health.

"I love it. It's a nice community feel and I get to keep my foot in being in restaurants. It's quite strange that they get such a bad press because really I feel like I get paid quite well there."

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"I'm 36 and my mum's coming along and also a couple of my university friends that live in London are coming along."

Being that her next race is a time trial, Lucy decided a city shopper-style bike might not be the best option.

"The interesting thing is that the bike I'm riding is my dads road bike but I'd never ridden on it until he passed away a few years ago."

Lucy was climbing Ben Nevis with her father when he had a heart attack.

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"I always used to take the mick out of him about riding in lycra. The bike has been collecting rust so I decided to get it fixed up. It has opened up a new type of cycling for me that I might not have got into.

"It's just nice to know that now his bike is getting used and I think he would be quite chuffed."

As for training, the job sees Lucy spend about 20-25 hours per week cycling from house to restaurant and back. She is also a frequent attendee of Oakland Park's Parkrun and practises yoga.

She said: "I have had my neighbour helping me out and sort of done some cycle routes and things like that."