Chippenham And Guernsey Numbers Swell  At Their Go-Ride Games After Nicole Cooks Gold

 

 News Posted 19th August 2008

 

Chippenham & District Wheelers 10^th August 2008

 

Following another very successful year’s delivery of Go Ride activities by Chippenham Wheelers coaches Jacqui Cook, Jemma Archard and Lisa-Jayne Booth and their helpers at Castle Combe throughout the summer months, a special one off Olympic Go Ride session was organised the day before the official Olympics started on Thursday 7th Aug. This coincided with the last event of the Castle Combe summer series which many of the Go Ride participants have taken part in. Over 20 young Riders took part in a number of events based on Olympic track disciplines ranging from sprints to full on time trials. To many this was their first introduction to competitive cycling and if their enthusiasm and energy is anything to go by we have some potential Nicole Cook's and Chris Hoy's in the making. As always with youngsters of such a young age the keenness to participate and compete with peers is as intense as any Olympic competition.

 

Whilst the evening was about having fun there were some learning points for one or two of the older children as young Roly Downs was starting his sprints in a much smaller gear on his tiny wheeled bike leading to him matching many of the older children starting in too bigger a gear. Tom Cook and Aaron Booth had a number of very closely fought sprint heats which encouraged the other children to keep fighting to the line.

 

All the young people performed exceptionally and received their honours on the podium which delighted the young people and created a real Olympic Buzz at the end of proceedings. The young people received their special British Cycling T-shirts, medals and water bottles on the night. It's understood a number of the children who took part went to bed in their T-shirts clutching their medals much like our senior athletes out in Beijing. Overall the Go-Ride delivery at Castle Combe these past three years has helped Chippenham Wheelers grow to 405 members making it one of the biggest traditional cycling clubs in the country. A huge thank you to all the coaches and helpers that make this all happen".

 

Spalding 12th & 13th August 2008

 

Spalding Cycling Clubs Go-ride coaches, with assistance from Stew Elderkin and Sharon Fensom held two days of cycle coaching at the Castle Sports Field as part of the SHDC summer sports tours. A total of 32 riders took part in the events, many taking part in cycling for the first time.

 

The two days were also supported by British Cycling, and each participant received a British Cycling Olympics supporters T-shirt. With the GB Cycling team away winning medals in Beijing. Spalding youths took their first steps, with the 2 days activities having an Olympic theme.

 

The young riders were shown and participated in Track racing on the grass, BMX racing, and Mountain biking. The last day finish with a mass start mountain bike race around the grounds of the Castle Sports Field.

 

The young riders were also shown the basic skills required for cycle racing which finished with the British Cycling Skills test. This a timed skills test,  time is added on if the riders fails to complete a skills, which include, riding the line, slalom, riding under the limbo, bottle pick up and Track standing.

 

The results are as follows.

 

Jonathan Hoogard  1.10.28, Matthew Ellis   54.53, Harry Bellars   1.02.12, Jake Norton  56.97, Reece Moradkhan   1.07.63, Daniel Brackstone  1.51.69, Harry Lynch   1.42.29, Samual Hurst  1.13.03,

Frank Thompson  1.32.47, Lewis Harker  1.14.66, Jack Withers  1.10.12, Casey Nurse  1.30.12, David Zacharias  1.43.63, Tom Webster  1.10.44, George Bellars  1.18.91, William Gurney 1.15.25, Tim Barrass  1.04.62, Sam Bentley  52.22, Nathan Inns  1.01.34, Kyle Inns  1.09.75, Tilley Gurney  55.13

Gemma Baker  1.18.65, Jade Hare  1.15.25, ax Bodimead  1.14.22, Oliver Fensom  46.07, Emily Trimble  57.85, James Pickering  1.03.53, Thomas Brackstone  1.15.03, Jake Peel  53.63, Thomas Young  1.08.47

Alex Avery  1.02.87, James Walbrin  55.49

 

Anyone who would like to find out more about Go-ride or Cycle racing in Spalding can contact Adam on 01775 762644 or www.spaldingcc.co.uk

 

Guernsey Velo 13^th August 2008

 

Over 120 young people attended the Go-Ride Games at Delancy Park in Guernsey. Promoting club Guernsey Velo provided an opportunity for the young people to compete in an Olympic Omnium. In the Olympic Omnium young racers will experience racing in many different Olympic style cycling races such as pursuits and road racing on a closed circuit.

 

Guernsey Velo only expected 65 youngsters but the numbers swelled to 120 which is an amazing statistic and coincidently occurred after Nicole Cook had just won the first Gold for Great Britain! With the numbers swelling to 120 it is a good job the club had extra support on hand.  Stuart MacDonald is the regional Talent Team Coach for the South West and he attended the Go-Ride Games and was extremely impressed, not only with the numbers but with the talent on show as 2 aspiring youngsters shared their aim of competing in the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010. James McLaughlin and Dan Arblaster demonstrating their excellent commitment to their talent and showed how the Guernsey Velo, much like the Isle of Man may be the latest island to produce Olympians.  So these Go-Ride Games could be the very first occasion that some of the 120 riders from Guernsey took the first steps towards being Olympians. Riders such as Bradley Le Tocq, Hannah English, Max Thornton, Bradley Smith, Ceejay Merrien, Katie Lewis, Joseph Yeaman and  Chloe Coutanche who all won the Gold Medal in their respective age categories.

 

The Go-Ride team would like to thank David Harry, Andy Cook and Adam Elllils for providing reports from their events.