Cambridge is no stranger to excellence, but even by its high standards, Ellesse Andrews stands apart.
An Olympic champion. A world champion (in 2023). One of the globe’s most dominant sprint cyclists of her generation, Ellesse Andrews is not just a successful athlete living in Cambridge; she’s a product of the high-performance environment that the town has intentionally built.
And she’s choosing to stay.
Ellesse’s rise through international cycling has been rapid and emphatic. She began track cycling competitively at just 14, favouring mountain biking as a kid before turning her focus to the velodrome. Almost immediately, her talent was unmistakable. At the world junior track championships in 2016 and 2017, she claimed four medals across multiple events, signalling the arrival of a rare all-around talent.
By the age of 18, Ellesse was representing New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, competing against the world’s best while still very much at the beginning of her career. Three years later, at the Tokyo Olympics, she confirmed her world-class status, winning silver in the keirin after navigating a demanding repechage path to reach the final.
But it was Paris that elevated her into the upper echelon of New Zealand sporting history.
At the 2024 Olympic Games, Ellesse was virtually untouchable. She claimed gold in the individual sprint, overpowering some of the most decorated riders in the world, before backing it up with gold in the keirin and silver in the team sprint. Three medals at a single games placed her alongside a select group of New Zealanders to achieve that feat, and firmly established her as one of the defining athletes of the Paris Olympics.
Her dominance has continued beyond the Games. Ellesse is a world champion in the keirin, a consistent podium finisher across sprint disciplines, and in early 2025 she broke the world record in the women’s 1km time trial, becoming the first woman in history to ride the distance in under one minute five seconds.
This level of success does not happen by chance.
Sprint cycling is among the most physically and mentally demanding sports in the world, requiring explosive power, tactical intelligence, precision and resilience. Ellesse has all of it, and the results speak loudly.
Behind those results sits a high-performance network, and Cambridge has been central to it.
Ellesse moved to Cambridge in 2016 to attend St Peter’s School, relocating from Wānaka with her family after receiving a scholarship. It was here that she committed fully to cycling, training daily in an environment designed for elite performance. Cambridge’s emergence as New Zealand’s high-performance sport capital, anchored by Cycling New Zealand’s national training facility and the Grassroots Trust Velodrome, provided the structure, expertise and competitive culture required to convert talent into sustained international success.
“Cambridge is known for high-performance,” Ellesse says. ”Being surrounded by people who are all pushing themselves at the highest level really matters.”
Despite a demanding international racing schedule and long periods overseas, Cambridge remains her base. Recently, Ellesse and her partner built a home in one of the town’s newer subdivisions, a decision that reflects long-term commitment, not just convenience.
“Cambridge makes sense,” she says. “It’s close to the Cycling New Zealand training facility, it’s easy to get around, and everything I need to train at the highest level is here.”
Her partner works locally, and when Ellesse is home, Cambridge is where she recovers, reconnects and resets. Many of her closest friends are also elite athletes, including champion cyclists and rowers, who train together, go to the gym together and understand the demands of high-performance sport without explanation.
But what keeps her grounded isn’t just the infrastructure.
“I love the small town, village feel,” she says. “It’s a beautiful place. And the people make it
even more beautiful.”
The combination of world-class performance supported by a genuine community is what makes Cambridge distinctive for Ellesse. It’s a town where Olympic champions can train, be supported without being in the spotlight, and build a life beyond their sport.
Ellesse Andrews’ decision to put down roots here is a powerful endorsement of Cambridge’s role on the world stage. It is not just a place where champions are developed, but where they choose to live, belong and build their future.
Cambridge doesn’t just produce and nurture champions. It keeps them.
