ROWAN Elliott has set his sights on international success after defending two national titles he won for the first time last year.

He took time-trial and sprint gold in his age-group category at the British National Masters Track Championship, matching a feat he achieved 12 months earlier.

“I’ll be old enough to compete at the worlds in 2019,” he quipped.

“It’s something I’d like to try once I’m eligible to take part.”

The 33-year-old, a personal trainer and sports massage therapist at Elite Health on Princess Street, told the Guardian that it was harder to finish first a second time around.

He was comfortably faster than his age-group rivals in the 1km time-trial, stopping the clock in a personal best of 1:06.290.

Elliott laid down another marker at Newport during qualifying for the sprint, again ranking highest in a time-trial – over a shorter distance of 200m – to decide on seeding for the main draw.

He followed a semi-finals victory with another in a race for medals.

“It was harder this time around,” he reflected.

“That’s in large part because I felt more pressure this time around because of what I did last year.

“I expect a lot of myself, and your first target is just to go faster than you have before.

“A lot of the guys I was up against were the same, and the new names hadn’t shown anything previously to suggest they would be a threat.

“But you never know, do you? I just focused on doing everything right.”

He said a change of team, from VC St Raphael Cycling Club to Black Line, towards the end of 2018 had been a factor in his improvement on the track.

Run by Pete Mitchell, a silver-medallist at the Paralympics in Rio two years ago who is also a close friend that lives nearby in Northwich, they inspired Elliott to raise his level.

He added: “Pete is there if I need to ask for advice or guidance, and who wouldn’t want to tap into that knowledge?

“The situation at my old club had changed after one or two guys left, and an opportunity came up to join Black Line.

“I’ve got faster since, and it was the right decision to move.”