Name:MONIQUE HANLEY RACED IN RAAM 2007 Location: AUSTRALIA Age: 28 Age diagnosed: 19

Most Vivid Memory of Diagnosis:Waiting. Waiting in the cold city-hospital corridor early one morning with my sister. My country-based doctor had arranged for me to meet a diabetic educator colleague after I showed some strange blood test results. I remember sitting there for ages, cold, tired, thirsty and feeling bad for wasting my sisters time, as this was all a misunderstanding - there was nothing wrong with me. Within the hour I had given myself my first injection. Later I remember drilling the endo on the impact of this new inconvenience: I play basketball – will this still be possible? I will be going on exchange to Canada in four months – can I still go? Thankfully he gave me the right answers (yes, yes)!

Family: I live with my partner, Simon..

Current A1C: 6.4

Goal for next A1C: If I can stay on track I’ll be happy!

Riding Experience: In 2002 I rode across Canada (7,800km in 66 days) and in 2003 followed the Tour de France by myself (www.moniquehanley.com). The last two years I’ve raced the track and criteriums in the summer and the winter road season in Australia.

Training Regime/Racing Regime: or the summer the focus is on the track and criterium racing, so this means a combination of track-specific work, ergo and early morning road rides or track motorpacing.

Winter is more road and gym focused, and on learning to love hills.

Job/Employer/School
Facilitating transit-oriented outcomes in key regional centres for the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment.

I help run HypoActive, a Melbourne group set up to promote an active lifestyle for type 1 diabetics. Refer www.hypoactive.org

School attending/attended:
RMIT in Melbourne with a stint at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, Canada studying Urban Planning.

Fastest speed ever gone on a bicycle? I speak metric, so 94km/h on a ride called the Alpine Tour of the Suburbs – somewhere near 58 miles/h??

Having diabetes has caused me to: Be part of a small, yet fantastic ‘secret’ society who understand diabetic code, gadgets and humour, all of whom I probably would never had met had I not been blessed with diabetes myself.

Most memorable event per or post diagnosis, sporting or personal: The greatest coup I’ve staged was our first Murray to Moyne attempt in 2003 with HypoActive. I was the only member of the team who had ridden it before, and I still can’t believe I coerced all these unsuspecting type 1s to form our team, many of whom I had only met over the internet. Despite our diverse backgrounds, riding experiences and fitness we succeeded - and in doing so showed every one of our team, and many others since, that we can achieve great things.

Words of wisdom, some personal advice…As my former basketball coach once quipped, ‘You gotta go with what you’ve got’. At the time he was referring to our team line-up, who although undermanned and underrated went on to win the championship title. I have always loved the sentiment. With or without a working pancreas, you have to make the most of what you have got. Actually, I wish I could remind myself of this more often!

Email: monique.hanley@gmail.com