Shara Marche

Shara Marche
	Marche in 2017
Personal information
Nickname	Shaza
Born	Shara Gillow; 23 December 1987 (age 36); Nambour, Queensland, Australia
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	58 kg (128 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Time trialist
Amateur team
	Sunshine Coast Cycling Club
Professional teams
2011	Bizkaia–Durango
2012–2014	GreenEDGE–AIS
2015–2016	Rabo–Liv
2017–2020	FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
Medal record
Women's road cycling
UCI Road World Championships
Representing ; GreenEDGE–AIS (2012) / Orica–AIS (2013)
Representing Rabo–Liv

Shara Marche (née Gillow; born 23 December 1987) is an Australian former professional cyclist, who competed professionally between 2011 and 2020, for the Bizkaia–Durango, Orica–AIS, Rabo–Liv and FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope teams.^[5] She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she finished 13th in the time trial and 39th in the road race.

Following her retirement, Marche became a food coach and nutritionist at UCI Women's WorldTeam Team SD Worx–Protime.^[6]^[7]

Personal

Marche was born on 23 December 1987 in Nambour, Queensland.^[1]^[8] Her father David Gillow is an Olympic cyclist who represented Zimbabwe at the 1980 Summer Olympics.^[1]^[9] She attended Nambour Christian College then was home schooled and obtained a Bachelor of Language from Western Sydney Institute.^[1]^[8] As of 2012^[update], she lived in Belli Park, Queensland.^[1] Beyond cycling, Marche is also a surfer.^[8]

In 2019, she married Nicolas Marche, then a directeur sportif for UCI WorldTeam Team Sunweb. The couple live in Besançon, France,^[10] and have a son, born in 2022.

Cycling

Marche did not become a professional cyclist until she was twenty years old, taking inspiration from her father to get involved with the sport.^[1]^[9]

Marche was coached by Martin Barras from 2010.^[1]^[8] Her coach said she "was one of the most physically gifted cyclists he had seen, but tended to be too conservative and protective when competing."^[9] Her primary training base is in Italy, with a secondary training base in Australia.^[1] She is a member of the Sunshine Coast Cycling Club.^[1] She has cycling scholarships with the Queensland Academy of Sport and Australian Institute of Sport.^[1]^[8] She was a member of the GreenEDGE–AIS professional cycling team.^[11]

Marche finished 4th at the 2011 Memorial Davide Fardelli in Rogno, Italy.^[1] She finished 3rd at the Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen in Germany.^[1] She finished 9th overall at the 2011 Giro d'Italia Femminile in Italy.^[1] She finished 8th at the 2012 La visite chrono du Gatineau in Canada.^[1] She finished 7th at the 2012 Prologue GP Elsy Jacobs in Luxembourg.^[1] She finished 1st in the individual time trial and 2nd in the road event at the 2012 Oceania Road Championships in Queenstown, New Zealand.^[1] She finished 2nd at the 2012 Women's Tour of New Zealand.^[1] She finished 1st in the individual time trial event at the 2012 Australian Road Championships in Learmonth, Australia.^[1]

Marche was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the road race and individual time trial.^[1]^[9]^[11]^[12]^[13] Prior to the Olympics, she raced with Australia's GreenEDGE–AIS team in the Giro Donne.^[9] She finished 13th in the time trial and 39th in the road race.^[14]

In September 2016 it was announced that Marche would join FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope for the 2017 season.^[15] She spent the rest of her professional career with the team, announcing her retirement in September 2020.^[16]