The Dunedin-born and bred pursuiters have remarkably similar stories. Palmer (nee Shanks) was successful in another code — netball — before a setback forced her to re-evaluate. She switched to cycling and, with the help of her coach and future husband Craig Palmer, conquered the discipline.
Palmer won two world championship gold medals in the individual pursuit and won gold at Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Fraser would certainly like some of that success and the 29-year-old has copied and pasted an earlier portion of Palmer’s story.
She was a very promising rower. She rowed for Southern RPC for two seasons and won national medals in the double, quad, eight and single but never cracked the top level.
A foot injury forced her to reconsider her future about five years ago. She turned to cycling and has started to make real progress under the tutelage of her coach and partner Andrew Williams.
The pair met when she crashed her bike shortly after moving from Dunedin to Christchurch to take up a position with the police about two and a-half years ago.The constable went shopping for a new bike and got an excellent package deal which included a coach and a boyfriend, she joked.
It was Williams who convinced her she would be good on the track. And the hard work the pair have put in is really beginning to pay off. Fraser has been selected in the New Zealand track cycling team which will travel to the United States next month for two months of racing and training.
She will take a year of leave from the police to concentrate on her goal of making the women’s pursuit team. There are World Cup events coming up and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. But an even bigger lure is a little further in the future.
"Hopefully, that year will turn into three years as we look towards the Olympics," Fraser said.
"As far as Cycling New Zealand is concerned, their goal is to get a medal in the women’s team pursuit. It is all geared towards that."
Basically, Fraser is turning professional having broken into the squad at a relatively late age. It is a win for perseverance.
"It is really exciting.
"But I’m coming into the squad new and that means I have lots to learn. I have lots of areas I can develop in, and hopefully that leads to greater improvements."
Fraser won the elite women’s road race at the age group road nationals which were held in Cambridge last week. She pulled off an audacious move to clinch the title, sprinting away from the lead bunch of nine riders with about 1.5km remaining and holding on to win by about 10m.
"The group sat up a wee bit and everybody was starting to play cat-and-mouse games, so I thought ‘this is my opportunity’ and I went as hard as a I could.
"It meant everything to me to get the win, so I did everything I could."
And that is exactly what she has planned while she is training with the New Zealand team — to go as hard as she can. Palmer would approve.
