Gavin Sherry, a 2022 graduate of West Hartford’s Conard High School, will compete in a world championship race this week.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Former Conard High School cross country and track star Gavin Sherry is about to do something many believed he could always achieve. On Thursday he is racing in his first World Championship race – except he won’t be running he will be cycling in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Under 23 World Championship Road Race.

How the three-time Gatorade Athlete of the Year for running got to this point is as windy a path as a mountain stage in the Tour de France.

While at Conard, Sherry signed to run for Stanford University. But a series of leg injuries popped up, limiting his racing and training. He hoped that with rest and rehabilitation he could put it behind him when joined the Cardinal. That was not meant to be, and he spent more time recovering and riding an exercise bike then competing for his school.

“Leaving running was difficult. I had a long falling-out with the sport,” he said. “ You are holding on to hope for so long and praying that on this return your legs aren’t going to hurt. Then something does and you get a pit in your stomach. Eventually I felt too hurt by the sport to want to continue. I started to enjoy myself on the bike and I found it was healthier for me.”

He said his coach at Stanford was very supportive of everything he did and encouraged him to chase his new dream. Sherry took the riding he had been doing for rehab and entered a hill climb near San Francisco and set the record, along with gaining a lot of attention. He started talking with the USA Cycling Road Director, and then joined a local team in California.

“I was in a bunch of races and rose through the ranks that you have to go through. I did quite well at the biggest US Stage race – Tour of Redlands – that was sort of the main performance that got me my spot for the USA trip.”

That trip was as a member of the USA Cycling U-23 Team, and it came about 18 months after Sherry started his commitment to cycling. It meant taking a few weeks off during his senior year but he said he had “some very understanding professors.”

Sherry finished second in the opening stage and second overall in the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt in Austria. It is one of the most respected U-23 races on the European calendar. More solid performances led to a phone call from EF Education-Aevolo, the under-23 American feeder squad. He just happened to be on vacation in Europe when he got the call, so he stayed and got right to work.

“Cycling was one of the things that kept me going when I was struggling to run. It was my way to maintain fitness,” said the 22-year-old. “It is really surreal the spot I am in. It has taken time to register. When it really first registered was my last race in France. My first two races with EF were quite difficult and it’s been a bit of a wakeup call that I am in the highest level of the sport.”

Sherry has never been one to run – or cycle – away from a challenge. Setting two record times at Wickham Park, he went undefeated over three years of cross-country running in high school and was a force across New England and in other races around the country. It will take the kind of confidence and ability to carry him through Thursday’s race and into 2027 when he joins the World Tour team, EF Education-EasyPost, and races with the top cyclists in the world.

“I’ve come to see success in a little different way than running. Running is a lot clearer. I know what I can do and what the guy next to me can do. In cycling there are so many more variables at play – tactically you can mess up, or have a bad day on the bike,” he said.

Even with his amazing early success, Sherry said he knows there is still so much more to learn about cycling. When he competes in Montreal he has an idea of what he will call success. “I’m always going for the win. If I was top-10 I’d be happy with that, top-three even happier. If I come out of the race feeling I learned something and stayed safe, and improved and understand how racing is moving that along would feel like a bit of a victory.”

The race is 108.2 miles around a course laid out in Montreal. Last year’s race was held in Kigali, Rwanda, and the winner finished in a time of 3:57:27.

Sherry is also still discovering just what kind of a cyclist he is. “I’d totally say I am not a sprinter. I think I would probably say I am a climber. My strengths seem to lie in running-esque timeframes – 10-15-minute periods. I’m still discovering what I am best at,” he told We-Ha.com recently while home preparing for the World Championship. After Montreal, it’s back to Italy and two more races, and then back to team camp in Girona, Italy, before his under-23 season concludes.

After that things get a little murky. Even though he is signed with a team to ride as a professional cyclist, he must find a way to secure a visa that will allow him to stay, train, and race in Europe for an extended period of time. Without one, a person can only spend 90 days of an 180-day rolling period in what is known as the Schengen Area – a border-free travel zone comprising 29 European countries that have officially eliminated internal border controls.

Like everything else, he’s taking it one day at a time and working hard to make it happen. As for what lies down the road, it is the same dream as anyone who has ever ridden in a competitive road race. “100% Tour de France is the dream of every cyclist, aspiring pro, and even pro riders in Tour already. You are always shooting for better placement,” Sherry said.

It might not be so farfetched to see him gliding through the French countryside and mountains and cruising into Paris along the Champs Élysées on the last day of a future Tour de France after seeing what he’s done in his first year plus of cycling.

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