The Next Go-Ride Generation Emerge In Bristol
News Posted 14th October 2008
Life in the Go-Ride Team moves pretty fast and the latest programme of top quality Cyclo-Cross coaching in Bristol has seen one generation of young people display how their talents have progressed since they began riding a few months ago, and the next generation of young riders new to the sport racing for the first time.
Young riders from the Bristol area have had there first taste of top Cyclo-Cross action this weekend as they completed a 4 week long Cyclo-Cross coaching session aimed at introducing the riders to the sport and preparing them for competition at the Dream CC cross event.
In total 20 young riders signed up for the free course which was funded mostly through WESPORT (The West of England’s County Sports Partnership) and from local Go-Ride Club Bristol Cycling Development Squad.
At the start of the course rider’s ages and experience ranged greatly with the youngest being a novice and only 8 years old. In comparison the eldest was 15 and used the 45 min ride across the city to the sessions each week as a warm up!
Ashton Court is a large estate to the south of the city which includes one of the country’s first purpose build off-road routes called the timberland trail. One of the aims of the course was to show the riders what they had on there doorsteps as well as feed them into the Bristol Club and its regular off-road coaching sessions. The riders rode many sections of the MTB trail to hone there bike handling skills and techniques that would be so vital in the race where they would be up against many more “experienced” riders.
With the final session taking place just the day before the race the riders had perfected the art of Hurdling even with there heavy Mountain bikes, Those that could make the race were looking forward to doing battle.
The morning of the race probably put off quite a few of the parents who may have had to travel because Bristol was covered in thick freezing fog making travelling quite dangerous. Even finding event H.Q was awkward in fog that reduced visibility to just 20m. However there was no way that this was to deter 8 of the group who arrived early to check out the course and enter the race. Several riders of the group were proudly displaying their Go-Ride racing jerseys and parents holding the Go-Ride bottles ready to feed the riders as the action got underway.
The Under 12’s kicked off the action with 2 shorter laps and no hurdles, our Go-Ride team looked relived as although they had been training over a longer course and had managed the hurdles they felt much more confident as the race effort would be within there limits.
This showed in the result as Max Berryman took 2nd place from fellow Go-Rider Rufus Brickell in his first ever bike race! Rufus and his parents have been well and truly bitten by the Cyclo-Cross bug.
The Youth race saw the entire field dominated by Go-Riders. Racing along on familiar turf and well aware of each others abilities these guys were not going to play it tactically. They went all out from the gun to put pressure on each other and open up the gaps. The race was dominated by 2 riders who started with Bristol Cycling Development Squads MTB sessions back in the spring of this year. The progress of Eric Brook and Charlie Battin was clearly evident from the way that they pulled open massive leads over the other riders. Riders who have who have only been introduced to MTB and cross 4 weeks ago and hopefully after enjoying themselves progress in the same way as the other riders have done. So look out for the names Joe Carter, Joe Sawtelt and Jordan Taylor over the next 6 months.
At this point Olympic Mountain Biker and local cycling hero Oli Beckinsale arrived to cheer the riders on; possibly inspired by their hero Eric and Charlie gave it everything and won in commanding style. The winner was Eric Brook with around a 5min lead from Charlie Battin, these 2 may well be names to look out for in the future of off-road cycling?
The tired riders were presented with medals they all looked extremely pleased with their achievements. The parents were especially proud and tired (well, supporting is a very tiring business!) suggesting that we can almost certainly look forward to seeing them all at the other rounds of the series.
Well done to all those who took part.
Dan Coast
South West Regional Go-Ride Coach
