Pupils from years 3 and 4 of Golden Grove School-Ysgol Gelli Aur have been introduced to the sport of Cycling through Go-Ride.

Coaches Rhian Bruce and David Perry who attended Welsh Cycling's Cycling for school course back in febuary have been concentrating on core cycling techniques of cycling and through a series of exercises have been introducing the pupils to the competitive side of cycling after Affiliating the school to Welsh Cycling & registering to the go-ride programme.

The school has had support from Sustrans and Valero Refinery to establish a fleet of bikes with safety helmets and gloves and has additionally secured funding to purchase eight bikes from Enterprise Bike of Neyland. Rhian explained that  whilst pupils are encouraged to bring their own bikes to the training sessions,  having a  school based fleet of bikes enabled the training to be provided for all pupils and allowed the coaches to include use of and selection of gears.

The pupils own bikes were subjected to a pre session safety check by Howard Yeates from Sustrans and ongoing support for the scheme has been provided by Sue Mathias the school's nominated biking officer.

The training culminated in a skills based competition at the school in the last week of term. Coach David Perry, who recently completed his training as a Level 2 Coach, set a testing course on tarmac with exercises to test core handling skills. After the tarmac based session the riders had to negotiate an on grass course which was set to represent a Cyclo Cross event.

Set against a clock the riders displayed excellent skills in negotiating both courses. Penalty points were added for errors and allowances were made for wheel size and bike type. The competitors were cheered on by pupils from classes who will benefit from the offer of training in the next academic year.

Sue Mathias the schools Sustrans  “Bike It” Officer said “ The training and competition has been great. The skills learned will be of great benefit to young riders and encourage them to cycle to school. We look forward to supporting the next group of pupils.”

Dan Coast, Welsh Cycling's Development officer for the region said " It's fantastic to see the school buy into cycling in such a big way. The school has created a fantastic pathway to encourage youg people into our sport. On a personal note it was fantastic to see David progress from the Cycling For Schools Course and complete his training as a Level 2 coach which will allow the school to deliver even more varied sessions to the pupils"

In the next academic year the school will be building on the bikes scheme with sessions on bike maintenance and sessions for parents.