Sir Chris Hoy has boosted the value of his personal company above £2.2 million.
The six-time Olympic cycling gold medallist, who in 2024 revealed his diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer, is a director of Trackstars Limited, which looks after income from his commercial activities.
Since retiring from cycling in 2013, Hoy, 49, from Edinburgh, has launched new careers as a professional racing driver, television pundit on cycling events and a children’s author.
Hoy and his wife, Sarra KempHENRY NICHOLLS/AFP
The latest accounts for his firm, filed at Companies House, show it has total assets of more than £2.7 million.
After paying off creditors, the company had shareholder funds of £2,241,423, an increase of more than £240,000 from the previous year’s figure. The business has doubled its value in the past five years.
Hoy set up the company in 2005, a year after winning gold at the Athens Olympics. He became one of the UK’s most famous sportsmen after winning a further three golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Two more followed at London 2012.
Before his Olympic success, Hoy was getting by on £24,000 a year in Lottery grants as well as small-scale sponsorship deals.
In 2016, he launched a series of children’s books which he has co-written. The Flying Fergus stories are about a nine-year-old boy who inherits his dad’s rusty old bike only to discover there is more to it than meets the eye.
Hoy has also become a campaigner for improved prostate cancer screening since making his diagnosis public.
He appeared on BBC Breakfast last week to encourage people to sign up for his second Tour De 4 charity cycle challenge, which is being held in Glasgow this September.
The inaugural event last year saw more than 5,000 people take part and raised a total of more than £3.1 million for cancer charities.
“The common feeling at last year’s event was that this was a place to belong,” he said. “When you get given a diagnosis like we have it’s very isolating. You feel like you’re the only person in the world going through that in that moment but sadly that’s not the case.
The Edinburgh-born athlete won two golds in at London 2012LEON NEAL/AFP
“But this was a place to celebrate life. There was no glumness, there weren’t people walking around talking about cancer, being scared of it.”
“It’s going to be bigger and better than last year. You don’t have to have a fancy bike or all the gear. It’s for people living with cancer who can stand up and say ‘I can still be part of this, I can still be involved, I can have a goal to work towards’.”
Hoy’s stage-four tumour was discovered after he went to the doctor with shoulder pain. He said that recent developments in treatments for prostate cancer have allowed him and other sufferers to gain renewed hope.
Raising more than £3 million for research was one of his greatest achievements, he said, adding: “That money makes a difference. There’s been a recent announcement of new trial drugs, which are having significant impacts on men in our situation.
“Just as important as that is changing perceptions and awareness and giving people hope. Because you’ve got to find your hope. When you’re given the worst possible news, you have to carve out that hope for yourself.”
Hoy and his wife, Sarra, have a son, Callum, 12, and a daughter, Chloe, 9. Shortly after his diagnosis, his wife was told she had multiple sclerosis.