Young Riders Launch Themselves Into Cyclo-Cross

 

News Posted 5th November 2008

 

East Midlands Go-Ride Coach Rob Sharman and the Market Harborough based Welland Valley Cycling Club promoted a 4 day British Cycling Activity Programme during Leicestershire October half-term holiday period. The Youth section of the cycling club, the Whizz Kids, welcomed the opportunity to access high quality coaching as well as attract a number of students from Kibworth High School and Robert Smyth Upper School. These two particular establishments have welcomed British Cycling into their respective schools to sample the delights of the “Olympic Gold sport” of Cycling during lesson times.

 

The first two days of camp were held in Welland Park, Market Harborough, with kind permission of the Harborough District Council.  Welland Park, a Green Flag Park, is also the primary location for the delivery of the popular Whizz Kids Go-Ride sessions. Supporting Rob for the duration of the camp were Kevin Nicholls and Dean Barnett.  For the final two days the camp moved to Misterton Hall near Lutterworth, another popular venue for the Whizz Kids, and culminated with riders contesting Round 6 of the West Midlands Cyclo-cross League.

 

As the bright yellow Welland Valley CC gazebo was erected in the park, youngsters arrived with an array of bicycles, helmets and supplies for initial 5-hour session. Utilising a fenced off area that previously housed 4 tennis courts Rob marked out a temporary Velodrome. With 17 riders signed in and with ages ranging from 7 to 14 years old for the first day, Rob asked the oungsters to pair up and spend the first few moments getting to find out interesting facts about there partner ready to introduce and share with the rest of the group.

 

Once on the bikes a warm-up involved exploring the park on bikes before entering the temporary track centre. As it was a track day the riders had to select a gear that they felt comfortable using for the complete session. Once the gears selected, 4 teams were then created with the riders deciding the team names- Team Hoy, Team Pendleton, Team 5 rings and Team GB. The riders were introduced to the Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit, Keirin, The Devil and a Madison. Highlight of the day was watching the enthusiastic riders practising Madison hand slings off the bike.  

 

Extract from Holly Barnett’s (7yrs old) Diary.

 

‘On the first day we did the circle of doom, team pursuit, devil, Madison, racing slow in a team or in a sprint. To warm up we played follow my leader round the park. We did the Madison hand sling on bikes and off bikes, my partner was Kirsty. When we got into teams my team was called Team GB. In my team I had Louis Kirsty Morgan and Melissa Team 1 was called Pendelton team 2 Hoy and the other team was 5 Rings. We had 3 breaks to calm down I think the next 3 days will be great’

 

Day 2 was blessed with bright sunshine as overnight rain had made any hard surface really greasy, not great when Rob wants to coach the riders how to corner at speed. The former Commonwealth Games rider adapted his session and delivered the drill on the redundant grass courts instead. With a horseshoe shaped circuit set out, the young people starting pinging in and out of the corners. The riders were soon sprinting in and out of the corner, remembering to keep their inside pedal high. A series of 2 up races and then 4 up races were held in a knock-out format.  After a mid-morning break a BMX course was created using the a landscaped bank as a starting gate followed by a flowing left and right hand turn before entering the finishing straight.

 

The BMX session was ‘quality’ with all of the riders really getting into exploding away from the start line and cranking their bikes over into the corners. With some really close racing on display there were the inevitable crashes, more a case of bruised pride than bodies.

The rest of the day was set aside to look at the basics of Cyclo-cross.  During the Lunch Rob shocked the riders by issuing homework!  The homework was all about the preparation on and off the bike as you prepared to compete in a Cyclo-cross race, when to eat, race strategy, how to warm up.

 

Once the riders had got over the shock of being issued homework they warm up for the afternoon session by playing a popular Whizz Kids game of International Penguin racing. With some more corning drills in and out trees they moved onto the all-important skill of getting off and on their bikes. This skill was going to prove valuable as Rob introduced 2 new games to Whizz Kids, a Cyclo-cross Madison (in pair’s one rider on the bike, the other running. On a whistle they swapped places) and Cyclo-cross pit stop.The two days in the park proved to be real big hit with plenty of passing members of the public stopping to watch the fun activities.

 

Holly’s Day 2 Diary entry.

 

‘The second day was brilliant, to warm up we played follow my leader round the park and I think it was fabulous. To warm up after lunch we played penguin Racing with the turns and the water jumps and the ski jumps and things. After the first warm up Robin had made a course with corners and we had to go round the corners in the right way and as fast as possible Some BMX racing and then we did a bit of a break for lunch. After lunch we did some remounts and dismounts, and then we played some Cyclo cross games When we did the circle of doom to end the day we did team sprint and slow bicycle race. Tomorrow we are at Misterton Hall’

 

The following day the camp moved to Misterton Hall. As Rob collected in the homework the riders were briefed on how special it was to access such a fantastic venue with the kind permission of Mrs Craven. After warming up the riders enjoyed the benefit of exploring the circuit laid out Round 6 of the West Mids Cyclo-cross League. The course was broken down into key coaching points, a continued progression of the skills developed during the previous two days. Misterton has a terrific range of different surfaces and hazards. The whole morning was spent looking at 5 key sectors before riding a whole lap prior to lunch.During lunch the homework was marked and returned to the riders to help them with preparation for the big race the next day. Kevin, who is currently completing his Level 2 coaching badge, took the lead after lunch by getting the riders to Practice starts and slalom relay races. For the final part of the day saw the camp riders joined by 20 Whizz Kids for the latest skills session. The session centred on looking at the Under 10’s and 12’s course in more detail.  The session was completed with an 8 minute mini Cyclo-cross race around the Under 10’s course.

 

Day 3 diary

 

‘The third day was really good for the first hour we did a tour of the big circuit and looked at the tricky parts and the lines of corners and hills and then we did a whole lap before we had lunch. After lunch we played football with a kind of triangle shaped football. We then practiced starts and a slalom race. The Whizz Kids then joined us for more penguin racing. Dad then spilt us into 2 groups and we looked at the under 10’s course. At the end we did an 8 minute race. Bring on day 4.
Holly x’

 

Day 4 Race Day

 

The first part of the day was all about preparation for the different races for the varied age groups. The previous day’s homework was an ideal guide to how about preparing correctly. With different riders racing in different events the watching camp riders cheered on their teammates with gusto. It was fantastic to see all the British Cycling camp riders put into practice the skills developed during the previous few days.

 

Press Report West Midlands Cyclo-cross League Round 6

The Market Harborough based cycling club got the day’s racing off to cracking start as Whizz Kid Ross Barnett won his very first full Cyclo-race, dominating the Under 10’s event and lapping over half the field. Leading from the first corner to head the race for the next 10 minutes he crossed the line with a two-handed victory salute. To make it a family double Holly Barnett, one of the youngest competitors in the race, put in a very special performance to finish first under 8’s girl and 24th overall.

Kirsty Morris was close behind in 27th, Georgia Toner finished 35th and Oliver Haines, competing in his very first race finished 41st after 4 laps. A strong Whizz Kids team took to the start line in the Under 12’s event and after 15 minutes of racing Ben Morris crossed the finish line in 6th place, Louis Kilworth was next in 10th with James Garrett cruising across the line in 11th. Next to finish was Jade Mobbs 12th, Ria Mobbs 13th also 2nd and 3rd Girl. Jack Roginski rode consistent laps to finish 16th and Morgan Curran smiled all the way round the circuit to finish 22nd.

In the Youth event, Whizz Kids Jake and Katie Hubbard were joined by Dominic Toner and Sophie Nicholls. Jake took the local honours by putting in a strong display to finish 28th with Katie chasing him all the way to the finish line in 29th . Dominic recovered from a crash at the mid-way point to finish 32nd, Sophie retired after 2 laps.

All of the Whizz Kids benefited from attending a four day coaching programme delivered by British Cycling to hone their bike handling skills, all of the youngsters put the skills into good practice in the various races. After the mornings racing the riders who attended the whole four days were presented with their new British Cycling Go-Ride Jersey by Rob. After lunch the group walked around the course cheering enthusiastically and giving encouragement to the other competitors. They also looked at the variety of ways each competitor dealt with the varied course.

 

Holly’s Diary

 

‘The last day of cycling was a racing day the first race was my race under 10`s. The winner was my brother and the first under 8 girl was me and Kirsty, Georgia and Oliver also raced. After our race it was under 12`s and Ben, Morgan, Louis, Jack from the camp and James, Jade and Ria from Whizz Kids all raced. In the youths Katie, Dominic Sophie and Jake were in action but on a big circuit.

After everybody had raced we had our Jerseys given out and then we had A photo taken with them on before lunch. After lunch we walked round the course but there was a race on so we had to be careful. We had a look at the Course to see how much muddy it had got in races.

THANK YOU TO ROB DAD AND KEVIN FOR A FAB TIME.

Holly x’

 

The camp was a huge success for riders, coaches and parents. The riders attending were polite, focused and grasped every opportunity to put into practice they’re new skills. A fantastic four days of cycling!

 

Dean Barnett, Youth Development Officer.