Zoe Langham switches on to Esports opportunity to leave her approaching crossroads in career choice

Still, a bronze medal in her first UCI World Championship as a British Cycling team member is a remakable achievement, and she could feel proud of herself as she stood on the podium in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.

Only she wasn’t in New York.

Nobody was. No cyclists. No peloton to ride shoulder to shoulder with. No fans. No sponsorship caravan.

It was all done online. And when she finished and looked for people to embrace, team-mates or opponents, there was no one there, only her partner stood by her as she collapsed exhausted out of the saddle after an hour and 23 minutes of racing in her front room in Nottingham.

Welcome to the growing metaverse that is Esports – a virtual reality competition that had bubbled under the surface for years before exploding in the age of the pandemic.

Langham’s bronze over the Zwift New York ‘Knickerbocker’ course was a historic moment for British Cycling; the country’s first medallist at an Esports event sanctioned by the sport’s governing body, the UCI’s acceptance of Esports confirmation of its growing relevance in the sporting world.

Langham’s journey encapsulates the rise.

“I only started about 18 months ago,” begins Langham, who is in the fifth and final year of studying to become a doctor.

“It was down to Covid and because I wasn’t getting home from work until late and it was dark, I got into doing a bit more indoor training.

“A few of my friends raced on the programme Zwift and recommended it to me, said it’s really good fun you should give it a go, and it’s evolved from there.

“I really enjoyed the races, it gives you a tough work out without you actually feeling like you’ve done a workout. It makes it really fun.”

Langham was not some sporting superstar to start with. She represented Ripon Grammar School at athletics, hockey and netball, and was an occasional runner in her teenage years, but that was it.

She turned to cycling at university when an injury made running difficult, joining a hill climbing club and representing her university at the BUCS Championships, a silver medal there the highlight of her sporting career but by no means world beating.

Langham was no professional athlete, far from it – until she took up Esports.

And it was while racing virtually on Zwift every Monday night that her performances got noticed.

“Anyone can race in the lower divisions, and you work your way up to the Premier League, there’s been a lot of pros racing in it from the early days of lockdown,” says Langham.

“The coach of LeCol-Wahoo, a team in the Premier League, noticed my numbers and wondered if I’d like to step up to that level.

“Then for the world championships, British Cycling picked five of their own riders but they also opened it out to the public with a qualifying event, and that’s what I signed up for.

“The top five from the qualifier got a place and I managed to win that so that’s how I got my place on the startline.”

The day of the world championship race, last Saturday, was very structured.

She may not have travelled to a race, had a one-to-one meeting with coaches and team-mates or signed autographs for fans beforehand, but the regimen before an Esports cycling race is no less stage-managed.

If anything, it is even more so, and the onus is on the rider to strictly adhere to the rules.

“It’s all very tightly regulated, there’s only certain turbo trainers you can use, everything has to be dual recorded,” she says of a front room in Nottingham that resembled a film set.

“I have to use a power metre as well as the turbo bike to provide two readings of the power outputs I do and they have to match. If they don’t you’re disqualified.

“You have to weigh-in beforehand, a really rigourous weigh-in procedure that’s recorded at least two hours before you race.

“Then you’ve got a heart-rate monitor on as well and if that heart-rate monitor malfunctions you’re disqualified.

“A lot of the things that make people sceptical about Esports is how do you stop people cheating, but at the level of the Premier League, everything is so strict that it’s hard to cheat.

“Even more so at world championships, we were all sent brand new turbos that have to be sent back straight away. So once I stopped riding on it I had to send it back for analysis.

“We get drugs tested as well so I’m expecting a drugs test in the next few days. It’s full on.”

There are also cameras on the bike and around her that Langham has to set up so the race could be broadcast on cable cycling network GCN.

Of all the intangibles of a bike race, or any elite level sporting event, an extra one to factor into the Esports metaverse is the strength of your Wifi signal.

You could be leading the race but if your Wifi connection drops out that’s it, you’re out of the race.

But for Langham, virtual racing provided the perfect solution to her work-life balance.

“For a cyclist I don’t do that many hours of training because the events aren’t that long, it’s more manageable for me to do both medicine and cycling training,” she says.

“The reason I haven’t gone for a road team so far is the commitment I would have to give to being on a proper road team and going professional. Fitting that in with a medical degree is really hard.

“I’m hoping that once I’ve got my final exams out of the way I’ll do a bit more road racing and go from there, make the decision about whether I ride on the road.”

She may not need to. Esports may continue to give her a future.

Esports will make its debut at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this summer as a test event, though the disciplines there are actually more for actual gaming like FIFA and Street Fighter.

Governing bodies, like the UCI, are still finding their way with their own versions of Esports, with cycling ready-made for the virtual world given the uptake in turbo trainers in the early throes of lockdown and the amount of programmes that came on line because of the popularity.

British Cycling were quick to get on board. Last year, Olympic track champion Ed Clancy represented them in the world championships.

“Over the next few years I think it’s going to become a much bigger thing,” says Langham. “There’ll be a lot more money in it. Already in the Premier League, the teams have got sponsors, they’ve all got turbos, they’ve all got bikes, they get kit. There’s already a lot more money invested in it and I think it’s only going to go further with professional Ecycling teams.

“Movistar have their professional road team and their professional Esports team, so I think it’s really going to kick-off in the next few years.

“With the coverage from GCN, airing all the races live every week, there’s more and more people following it.

“It’s nice to watch because it’s only an hour. It’s so dynamic and it’s safe as well. I’m not saying turbos are cheap but they’re certainly cheaper than having three road bikes and all the kit.

“So I’d definitely recommend it. It’s an opportunity for people who maybe don’t have enough time in the day. You can do it after work, you can do it when the weather is rubbish, and you can do it without having to invest in bikes and kit.”

So what of North Yorkshire’s Zoe Langham, the overnight Esports sensation.

“It’s cool, quite surreal,” she smiles of her new status. “I’ve got two very different lives as a doctor and a cyclist. I wouldn’t have dreamed this 18 months ago, I just started it as a hobby.

“To have come this far in such a short space of time is amazing and I’m really excited about what it might bring. I’ve got a very big decision to make – stick with medicine or go and cycle full time.”