[Images provided by Ross Bell]
Think of Scottish mountain bike racers, and Isla Short is likely the first name that springs to mind. She’s been a stalwart of the scene for a fair few years, wearing the national stripes in more than one discipline. But always on two wheels.
- The Charlie Aldridge interview – UK’s newest Olympic hope
- The Charlie Hatton interview – the new King of Downhill
- Rising from the Dust – the Lachlan Morton interview
But until 2025, it’s fair to say Short’s career hasn’t exactly been as straightforward as she hoped. She’s always had the numbers, the raw talent, and the drive to be the best. But as many of us find, life doesn’t always go to plan, until now.
Privateer: round 2
2025 has been Short’s best year on a bike – and it’s ironic, given she’s had her best World Cup results and most consistently good season after she decided that race results wouldn’t be what defined her. But it wasn’t easy to get into this ‘happy head, happy legs’ mindset. We were lucky enough to spend some time with her to discuss all things racing, not racing, her ADHD diagnosis, and how she’s excelling as a privateer the second time around.
“The move to being a privateer again wasn’t planned. I found out really late last season that I was not able to continue with the team I was on for financial reasons, so it was a bit of a mad dash for me trying to figure out a setup that realistically would allow me to race internationally this year.
“Looking back, it was definitely a blessing in disguise. I did speak to one of the team, but then that team folded, so it was either race as a privateer or don’t race.
“So, first of all, I decided just to race in Europe. That was to take a big stress away, because the first two World Cups were in Brazil. I’ve done Brazil as a privateer before, and I will never do it again.”
A race calendar with purpose
For Short, being a privateer in the XC World Cup scene means taking more control over her schedule. No longer is she forced to show up to every race, which means she can be far more “purposeful” with her calendar – something she changed from the last time she was in this boat.
“The biggest change I’ve made is not saying yes to everything, just because I can. In my situation, because I started asking people for support so late, combined with the bike industry just being a total mess right now, I got very little, to be honest.
“I actually bought my bike in December. I didn’t have a bike sponsor. I started the year on a very, very small budget. But in a way, it was kind of nice because I was on mostly product deals, I wasn’t expected to do a lot in return, and that allowed me to focus just on the racing and the training.
“Whereas before, when I was a privateer, that became a secondary thing. It was constantly about all these obligations I had, and it’s so tempting to get something for free just because you can. But the problem is it just ends up being far more work, like you have these posts to do on social media, these people want your attention, and instead of say, 10 emails a week, it becomes 50.
“I wanted to be really purposeful with who I worked with. I wanted to reduce the number of sponsors, but build more meaningful relationships with those sponsors.”
And in doing so, Short has, in my opinion at least, one of the standout racing kits in the pits courtesy of cycling kit brand, Iris – developed by former professional racer Iris Slappendel. Although, ironically, that is now being swapped out for the British national champs jersey.
“It just wasn’t worth it anymore.”
What’s not ironic, however, is that 18 months ago, Short had already made up her mind that 2024 would be her last year as a racing professional.
“I had a lot of really difficult things happening in my personal life between 2020 and 2024. And my race results… The good days were becoming fewer and further between, and I got to the point at the end of 2023 when it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I wasn’t enjoying it. I constantly felt like I was on the back foot.
“I joined a factory team at a really bad time because I wasn’t able to perform. I had a lot going on, and although there were amazing things about that team, I would never say anything bad about the team. I was really happy there. But the reality is, when you’re on a factory team, there are expectations for you to perform, to be at every World Cup, to kind of just get on with it.
“And I just totally lost the why. I would turn up at races to prove that I could be on the team. I wasn’t really racing for myself. So when I had the opportunity to take away all that pressure and just race for myself, it made me really, really think about whether I wanted to do it.”
Ts and Cs apply
Thankfully for us racing fans, Short decided she would continue, but “with terms and conditions.”
“I’ve done a lot of work in the last year on my relationship with racing and my reasons for continuing. And, I would say above all the practical stuff, the biggest change I’ve made is that I don’t feel the same attachment to race results. I don’t need the race results anymore. They’re nice, but I’m a happy person without that. So I think that’s been huge for me, and it’s also translated into me performing better.”
How ADHD impacts Short’s racing
Another big change to Short’s life has been her relatively recent ADHD diagnosis. For far too many of us, and statistically it’s more likely to be women, a diagnosis of ADHD is not made until well into adulthood. So for years, people may struggle with certain things and not realise it’s linked to ADHD. This was the case for Short, who says her diagnosis changed her approach to life.
“There were so many things I struggled with in racing that I didn’t know were connected to ADHD because I didn’t know I had it. I would often turn up for the biggest races already exhausted, and I never understood why.
“And you know, there was lots of chat, through the years, with psychologists about it being psychological struggling with pressure, etc. But actually, I would be able to race amazingly, like at a national round in a big training block when I’d just been at home all week.
“And what I realised was that if I’m leaving for a race on the Monday, and I’m staying with a team and staff of people who, even though we get on well and I like them, they’re not effortless to be around, because I’m quite high-masking with my ADHD.
“So that was tiring me out through the week, having to be on someone else’s schedule, constantly working very, very hard to be tidy, be on time, have all my things in order, whilst actually feeling quite tired from masking all day.”
Masking is where a person tries to present as someone who does not have ADHD to fit in with more neurotypical expectations. Imagine trying to constantly manage your emotions, overthink everything you say and do just to keep others around you at ease. That’s tiring just thinking about it. So this year, Short has come up with her own strategies to limit the stress and fatigue to a minimum when she races abroad.
“I really limit the time that I spend at the venue. I will have my headphones on until the very last minute. I stay home a lot more than I used to as well. And that stuff has helped so so much.
“And then, there’s something called multi-stage processing, where multiple stimuli is coming at you at once. It’s really, really difficult to react quickly enough. And in racing, when the gun went, I would be spat out the back.
“Not because of fitness, but because by the time I’ve noticed that a gap has opened up, it’s already gone because I can’t react to things quickly enough, because my brain’s so distracted by the noises like 80 other riders around me.”
Now, Short takes medication for her ADHD, and says it has helped. But perhaps the biggest difference her diagnosis has made is, she says, that she “gets to live as someone who knows what brain I have, and knows that it’s not broken.”
Isla the person, the student, and the bike rider
Outside of racing, Short isn’t well, short, on personality. She’s studying Criminology and Sociology at the Open University, using mainly a distance delivery method of learning that she finds works well with her ADHD.
But having something to focus on outside of racing has also helped her to create a better balance, a structure to her days when she’s at home and, importantly, distance herself from her results as a bike racer.
“There are a lot of bike riders who do the training, and then they sit and doom scroll, and I just feel that time is spent better doing other things. A lot of my bike-riding friends laugh at me because they think it’s because of my ADHD that I’m constantly busy.
“But actually it’s on purpose as well, because I’m making sure that however bike racing goes, I always have friendships away from bike racing and things going on in my life.
“I mean, you speak to some racers and they’re so result-oriented, and I get it, obviously. But at the end of the day, not to discredit racing, but there is more to life. Yes, it’s important, but it’s also not the end of the world if you don’t win.”
“Nobody’s lining up on a level playing field anyway.”
There were a few times during our chat that I had to remind myself that Short is only 28, given how wise she is. She has, of course, been through a lot in her life already, but to be as mature as she is by 28 is rather impressive. And hearing her talk about her perspective on racing is refreshing.
“I’ve had things happen in my life which have been so much bigger than bike racing, and I look back on my career, and it’s easy for me to see some of the setbacks as things that prevented me from being the bike racer that I could be.
“I’ve had so many cumulative things happen, and I used to think, ‘I haven’t been able to do this, because this has happened’. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve realised, it’s just life. Nobody’s lining up on a level playing field anyway, so to compare yourself to somebody else doesn’t make any sense.
“I know that nobody’s been through exactly what I’ve been through, but I haven’t been through the same things as other people. And I just think it’s so cruel to yourself to put that pressure on yourself to be the best when life is also happening at the same time.”
“I’m racing against people on six-figure salaries”
You have to look to a few seasons ago for the last time Short was in the top 20 of a World Cup XCO race, but 2025 has shown she can absolutely blossom when given the chance. So far, she’s managed to win the XCO national champs, the MTB marathon national champs, and finished 7th in Leogang earlier this year.
“Genuinely, during the race in Leogang, when I was sitting in fifth, I was laughing in my head, because I was, like, I bought a bike. Like, I’m racing against people who are on six-figure salaries.”
And those people on six-figure salaries and their paid-for team bikes probably knew Short had it in her to be at the pointy end of the XCO World Cup races. She’s never doubted her physical ability, and neither have the people around her.
“My physiology and my numbers have always shown that I can be the best, and I think that’s carried me through a lot of the adversity. When things have gone wrong, it’s never been because I’ve doubted my physical ability.”
After working with the same coach for 10 years, Short decided to switch things up last year, and she’s already taken some of his teachings to heart. A particular favourite confidence-booster of hers?
“You just need to do the training. Don’t even think about it. All you need to think about is laser-sharp execution when you turn up at races.”
And when you’ve got the right team around you, and you’re finally at peace with your own mind, that’s when you can really find your full potential. And for Short, so far, that’s been two national titles, a top 10 in a World Cup, and a top 10 in the European championships.
Not a bad year. But there was one particular race where the wheels sort of fell off, and of course, I wanted to get to the bottom of what happened. I’m talking about Andorra, where, to everyone’s surprise, the gun went and Short rode herself instantly off the front – without even trying.
“I did something very stupid”
Those of us at home watching it didn’t think, ‘stupid’, or at least I didn’t. I thought, crikey, she’s going so well she doesn’t realise she’s riding the best riders in the world off her wheel.
“I don’t know. I was doing it like I wanted to lead it out, but it didn’t feel hard. So I realised after because when the climb flattens out over the top, I was in first. But I thought, ‘oh, people are going to start coming past me, it would be cool to get into the descent first, so I’ll push on a bit.”
“And then I saw the footage, and I was like 20 metres ahead, but when I went into the woods, it was dead quiet I was thinking, is there a start loop that I didn’t know about? And then on the next climb, to be fair, physically, I didn’t even blow up.
“But mentally, everything had been going on. I wasn’t even going to go to that World Cup because of everything, and it was stupid doing what I did, because I just didn’t have the mental energy to fight, yeah. So I just got passed by 23 people.”
But what’s racing if not entertainment?! For the remainder of the season, the goal is to be more consistent. Short has proved she can race with the best, now she wants to show she can do it week in week out.
“For the rest of the year, I’ve got three World Cups and World Champs. So I’d really like the three World Cups to be a little bit more consistent, because at the moment I’ve had a 7th, 24th, 29th, and a 41st because of a flat tyre.
“I’d really like to do three good like top 15s, maybe top 20s. And if I can do another top 10, that’d be great.”
Whatever the remainder of 2025 and the remainder of Short’s career brings her, I think we can predict with a degree of confidence that she will be etched into the Scottish and British MTB history books as one of the most capable and personable riders the elite circuit has ever seen.
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