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Olympic Academy Now Recruiting
Story posted July 12, 2010
British Cycling’s Olympic Academy Programmes are now recruiting for a new intake of riders in the following cycling disciplines:
- Track Sprint
- MTB XC
- Women’s Endurance
Places on the Academy Programmes are reserved for only those riders with the ability to make significant progress towards 2-3 year goal of a medal at U23/Senior European or World Championships. Competition for places is, of course, high with a very limited number of places reflecting the limited number of Olympic medals available at the top of the sport, so only riders with truly exceptional ability will earn membership.
The Academy programme is full time regardless of cycling discipline, requiring a strong work ethic to survive and progress. Young riders need to live and breathe cycling and devote their coming years to the achievement of challenging goals. The support provided and commitment of the Olympic Programmes staff to assisting riders to achieve these goals is as high as the commitment expected from the riders.
No stone is left unturned to provide the best coaching, sports science input, equipment appropriate to the stage of development, nutrition support, medical and hygiene advice, educational support, clothing, injury prevention and rehabilitation, tactical advice, race support, mental preparation. This list continues to grow in the team's unending quest for excellence.
History
The Great Britain Cycling Team's Academy programme was introduced in 2004, initially with a men’s endurance Academy of six under 23 riders that included such riders as Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish and Olympic Champion Ed Clancy. Since that time, it has grown exponentially to incorporate all Olympic disciplines, with most riders residential in apartment style accommodation in Manchester over the winter months.
Learning from the successes of the Men’s Endurance Academy, parallel programmes were developed for Track Sprint, MTB XC, BMX and Women’s Endurance. This is far from a one size fits all model though; in recognition of the specific needs of the different cycling disciplines, each programme differs slightly.
-- The Track Sprint academy is fully residential and based in Manchester year round with all the track time needed on Manchester Velodrome. The track sprinters focus on track training and strength & conditioning training at the specialist English Institute of Sport gym at the Manchester Velodrome. The Academy riders join with the senior squad on occasion for training camps and racing.
-- The Mountain Bike academy is also residential in Manchester from November through to April. The Mountain Bike academy is Manchester based with the other academy groups November to April for the season preparation and benefit from input from the GB support services.
-- The Women’s Endurance academy spends its winters in Manchester in Academy apartment style accommodation fine tuning track skills with racing opportunities in overseas competition, relocating to the continent through the summer months for a road racing season. This season the squad has benefitted from the experience of riding with, as part of the team, with Olympic Champion and former World & Commonwealth Games champion, Nicole Cooke.
Click for a taste of life on the different programmes:
MTB XC
Track Sprint
Application forms can be downloaded here: Download
British Cycling Equality Monitoring Form - Download
Application deadline dates:
MTB XC 6th August
Track Sprint 20th August
Women’s Endurance 20th August
Contact: AlisonJohnson@britishcycling.org.uk or British Cycling, National Cycling Centre, Stuart Street, Manchester M11 4DQ or faxed to 0161 274 2095.
