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Isla Short

@isla_short

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Bike racer ☄️🧚🏼‍♀️
@hunt.mountain x @cullenkilshaw
🍒 @torqfitness fuelled
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 aggressive Scottish package
When nothing goes right, go left

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

GBR 🇬🇧

A World Record holder and 2x XCO Champion….Yes you heard that right 💥

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James had the pleasure of building up Isla’s new Basso Palta race bike a few weeks ago. Nae bad.
#pedalsbikecare #3peakscx #someeffort

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🚨OUT NOW🚨

(Link in stories)

Isla Short — 3 Peaks, World Cup Racing & The Other Side of Professional Cycling

This week on Spill The Watts, I’m joined by Isla Short — British XCO Champion, World Championship top-five finisher and one of Britain’s leading mountain bikers.

Most recently, Isla took on the iconic 3 Peaks Cyclocross for the first time — winning the race, taking all three summit primes and breaking a women’s course record that had stood since 2003.

We go deep into exactly what went into that performance: the research, specific training, running and hiking, carrying the bike, equipment choices, course recce, fuelling, pacing and how she executed it all on race day.

But this episode goes much further than 3 Peaks.

We go right back to Isla’s unusual route into professional cycling — growing up in a cycling family, attending a specialist music school, and eventually choosing bikes over a potential career in music.

We talk through the highs and lows of her career, racing at the highest level of XCO, finishing fifth at the World Championships, becoming British Champion, finally cracking the Elite World Cup top 10, and why achieving those things ultimately changed what she wanted from the sport.

Isla also speaks incredibly openly about a much more serious experience within professional cycling that she specifically wanted to use this podcast to talk about.

This ended up being one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking conversations I’ve had on Spill The Watts. Isla is incredibly open, self-aware and willing to question her own experiences and feelings, and I came away from this one thinking about quite a few things differently.

🎙️ Spill The Watts with Isla Short.

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Coming soon…!

How the 2025 XCO Champs was won, by Isla.

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Coming soon…

A very different conversation from what I’d normally share on here.

This was one of the deeper parts of my conversation with Isla, and something she specifically wanted to speak openly about.

I’m really grateful she trusted the podcast as a place to do that.

🎙️ Full episode coming soon on Spill The Watts.

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Party time because of Scott and Isla. Plus other things. More coming soon.

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🎙️ COMING SOON — ISLA SHORT

Isla has spent years racing at the highest level of mountain biking — representing Scotland at multiple Commonwealth Games, racing the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup / World Series, finishing inside the Elite World Cup top 10, and becoming British XCO National Champion.

And most recently, she decided to have a go at something completely different…

The 3 Peaks Cyclocross.

First attempt. Overall win. All three summit primes. And a new course record.

We’re going to go properly behind that performance — the huge amount of research and planning, specific training, equipment choices, course recce, pacing and fuelling, and then how she managed to execute it all on the day.

But we’ll also go much further back — growing up riding bikes, her journey through elite mountain biking, the highs and lows along the way, and how her relationship with racing has changed throughout her career.

Plenty to get into with this one.

🎙️ Isla Short — coming soon to Spill The Watts.

📸
#1 - @scottishcycling
#2 - @cadence_images

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Some more shots from one of the best events on the calendar…this one’s going straight to the top of the bucket list for sure 👌

I’d not shot the @3peakscx before so didn’t really know the best spot to go to…it’s a bit easier for the running version as you can out pace the runners on your bike and so get to a few different places for a bit of variety (it being the spice of life and all)…not so the CX 😅

I wanted to try to capture, for someone who has no inkling of what this race / sport is all about, the essence of CX in the UK through one of its most iconic races…the technicality of the course, the steepness of the climbs and the absurdity of what these fine folk have signed up to do, namely riding, what is ostensibly a slightly up-armoured road bike, on terrain you’d hesitate to ride a full-suspension MTB on 🤣

Chapeau one and all 🤙👏

#mountains #outdoors #fitness #motivation #cycling

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End-of-2-months-in-Europe-post
Now home-sweet-home and very soon off-season-sweet-off-season as well!

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3 PEAKS CYCLOCROSS-CROSS 2026

🎥 VIDEO IS LIVE! 🎉.

Hit the link in the bio or head over to our Wheelbase YouTube channel to enjoy all the action and post-race emotions from a day which saw probably the closest finish in the history of the 3 Peaks in the men’s race and an amazing record-breaking debut in the women’s race.

🎥 @davemacfarlane
📷 @joeljamesonphotography

#3peaksCyclocross #Cyclocross

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Congratulations, @isla_short

62nd edition of @3peakscx complete!

Someone left his iPad at home - tradesmen blaming their tools and all that 🤦‍♂️

They’re late, but (one childish meltdown later) brought to you via my pink iPhone and a prayer 🙏

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A huge congratulations to Cullen Kilshaw-sponsored rider Isla Short, who has won the legendary 3 Peaks Cyclo-Cross and set a new women’s course record in the process.

Taking on the event for the first time, Isla headed to the Yorkshire Dales with two ambitious goals: to win the race and to break the women’s course record, which had stood since 2003.

She achieved both.

Isla completed the famously demanding 61km course in 3:36:30, writing her name into the history of an event widely regarded as Britain’s toughest cyclo-cross challenge.

It’s an especially impressive result given Isla’s limited experience of senior cyclo-cross racing. As she described it afterwards, the event felt less like a traditional cyclo-cross race and more like a “big adventure” – and one that saw her step firmly outside her comfort zone.

We’re very proud to support Isla and to see the commitment, experience and determination she brings to whatever challenge comes next. Congratulations, Isla, from everyone at Cullen Kilshaw.

(Image Credit: Andy Jones)

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