DHL Over the Moon with Sprint School
Story posted December
By Larry Hickmott
A very interested spectator at last Saturday’s Sprint School at Manchester was the DHL CEO (Northern Europe) Guy Elliott. The Solihull club cyclist, who in the past has organised rounds of the Junior Road Race Series in the days when Mark Cavendish was a rising star, has now turned his attention to helping youth riders fulfil their full potential on the track.
DHL, a household brand in the logistics sector, is over the moon with their involvement in the sprint school and in 2009 is increasing the help they give these young riders. British Cycling spoke to the passionate cycle sport enthusiast at the final round of the 2008 DHL Sprint School and asked him what the Sprint School was about.
“This is really the culmination of what we have been working on for a couple of years” Guy explained. “I am very keen track cyclist at club level and can see all the fantastic work that is going on with the Talent Team (a British Cycling Olympic development programme) and other development programmes but riding track league myself at Halesowen, I came across a whole load of kids excluded by that system at a young age”
“If they didn’t make the Talent Team, they thought that it was the end of their chances in cycling. Around the same time, my son was playing rugby and he went to the Martin Johnson Rugby Academies and things like that and I saw the incredible goodwill and connection you can get by engaging the grass roots with champions. So I wanted to include kids that hadn’t made the Talent Team, or were too young for it, in a new venture and bring up the whole base of the pyramid in British cycling.”
“I see so many people complaining about British Cycling saying this and that should happen but I believe if you see a gap, then you need to have a go at making it right.”
The DHL Sprint School brings young riders and Olympic stars together. Here, Olympic Gold medallist Jamie Staff is going for it in a Wattbike competition against the DHL Sprint School riders.
“I didn’t quite know how to do that but the idea was to have a Martin Johnson style rugby academy and I was at the Track Worlds one year and met Craig (MacLean) and I thought if we could engage some star riders I could with DHL’s help, create a similar academy. I then met Fran Millar at Face Partnership and we did a deal that DHL would sponsor the DHL Future Stars competition at the Revolution meetings and in return, I asked for her help to make the DHL Sprint School happen.
"And that was how it got off the ground.”
Guy and the company he represents, DHL, is really proud of the Sprint School but admits that whilst the idea was his and DHL is a sponsor, that it couldn’t have happened without Face Partnership, and lots of other people.
“We couldn’t make it happen without the help of the Talent Team coaches and people like Tim Buckle and the club coaches from around the country. It’s a real partnership and that is how I think it should be.”
Asked what is the key goal for the DHL Sprint School, Guy replies “to be inclusive. The high performance programmes are rightly ‘exclusive’ in their aim to find Olympic champions but we’re ‘inclusive’ and have the aim of ensuring everyone reaches their full potential regardless of ability as well as having fun and learning important skills.”
“The idea is to make them the best technical sprinters in the world by the time they get to 15”.
During this year, there have been six sprint schools where another aim on top of all the aforementioned ones, is to ensure at least half the riders are girls. Then, the organisation brings in star riders like Jamie Staff, Craig MacLean, Victoria Pendleton, Anna Blythe and others as well top coaches like Jan van Eijden (former World Sprint Champion), Shane Sutton, Geoff Cooke, Tim Buckle and loads of Talent Team coaches.
“The thing I am proudest of” says Guy “is that nobody gets missed out and loads are being picked up by the Talent Team through the school.”
Boys and girls racing together in keirin events last Saturday at the Manchester Velodrome.
And while the name of the programme is a Sprint School, Guy admits that the name is there to give the programme an identity and that they learn far than just sprint skills. “At track leagues, you will ride a variety of events so we are teaching them sprint skills and track craft and the races like the Keirin mean we are able to get more riders on the track at the same time.”
“They are taught things like rushing a gap, standing starts (for track time trials), Keirin techniques and looking over their shoulder as they ride the track to keep an eye on their opponent.”
The final school last Saturday was the culmination of the six DHL Sprint School events and saw the young riders racing through out the morning on the track. Each of the riders rode five kerin heats and a final with the coaches looking at their technical skills and not just the results. They also got to ride a ‘Devil take the Hindmost’.
With the 2008 DHL Sprint School now done and dusted, the organisers are now looking ahead to next year where DHL will be increasing their involvement by having eight Sprint schools, four in Newport and four in Manchester. As ever, the aim will be to have them organised during school holidays and the reason for the tracks being indoors is to help the young riders get skilled at riding a steeply banked board track as used in major events and also to prevent any problems with the weather.
It certainly is one of those really fantastic opportunities for young riders to get coached by the very best and have the opportunity to ride and race on tracks their Olympic hero’s race on. With the Olympic success having shot cycling into the public eye, young riders now have many opportunities to follow in the wheelmarks of the stars like Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Victoria Pendleton to name but three of many.
And, it’s to DHL’s credit that they, like other big corporations such as Sky, Halfords and others are helping to not only develop future champions but also sow the seed of cycling into many a young person just as it was done many many years ago for so many of us still in the sport today. Cycling for so many is a way of life and for Guy Elliott, he’s fittingly putting just as much into it as he gets out of it. Our thanks to him for his time and good luck to the Sprint School in 2009.
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Sprint School Stars Shine at Season Finale
Source: Face Partnership
Chris Hoy does a lap of honour with two of the riders from the DHL Sprint School, Matt Rotherham and Emily Kay.
Over fifty riders travelled from across the UK to take part in the DHL Sprint School racing day on 6th December. British Cycling coaches Tim Buckle and Gary Coltman organised an action packed day with six hours of competition for the youngsters. Tim was delighted with the day, and even more with how much the riders had improved over the season.
He said: "Well that was mint!! Objectives of ‘08 were about having fun and showing improvement, TICK!!!!! Better get my head down and make ‘09 even better hey. Thanks everyone you know who you are!!"
During the three hour morning session on the track the competitors took part in Keirin heats and Devils. Heats for Keirins were seeded according to 200m times and throughout the competition riders moved up and down to different heats, the top two finishers went up and the bottom two down. This allowed riders of all ages to race against those of similar ability. Emerging victorious after 45 heats, Matt Rotherham (14) and Emily Kay (13) won the competition. Later that evening, the two young riders presented Chris Hoy with his winner’s bouquet and did a victory lap in front of the packed Revolution crowd.
On the Wattbike, Jamie Staff is either grimacing or smiling as he watches his 'bike' go across the screen of the computer in a Team Sprint challenge against the youngsters in the DHL Sprint School (below).
Star rider Jamie Staff was on hand in the morning, helping the kids warm up and giving tips and tactics to those waiting on the fence for their turn to go. He said:” It was a brilliant day watching the young kids put into practice what they have learnt over the last year. The improvements they have all made both technically and tactically is great.”
Jamie continued, “I hope it has given them a better understanding of what it takes to be a sprinter and I hope that they all pursue their dreams in wanting to be the Chris Hoys, Vicki Pendletons and Jamie Staffs of the future! I have no doubt that they will.”
Owing to incredible organisation by the coaches and the riders punctuality, the heats finished nearly an hour ahead of schedule allowing time for three devils. These were close fought battles between the tired youngsters; indeed many of those placed highly in the morning were unable to hold their form.
After a short lunch break and a visit by man of the moment Chris Hoy, the riders were back, this time on the Watt Bikes. Jamie was joined by Jason Kenny and Ross Edgar and together they set the time to beat. The youngsters were then divided into 12 teams after being seeded by a quick 250 TT. The competition was fierce and just a few seconds separated the first and last placed teams. Showing some serious speed, Rebecca Womersley, Matt Webb and Alan Trulove successfully saw off the competition and won!
Riders are given final instructions before an event.
Rebecca commented, " I had a fantastic day thanks to DHL. I really enjoyed Keirin racing in the morning and was pleased that my team won the sprint on the Watt bikes. The prize was great having my photo taken with the British sprint squad at the evening Revolution."
As ever, Sprint School is not all about the winning, and the final award of the day went to Eleanor Corkhill. Eleanor’s enthusiastic nature, happy demeanor and dedication to everything she does has consistently impressed her coaches and she was awarded with a jersey signed by the best sprinters in the World – including Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Jamie Staff, and Arnaud Tournant.
Eleanor was delighted with her award, saying "I think Sprint School has given me so much more confidence and skill that I needed to ride the track at a whole new level. The coaches are great, and every time I have been to a sprint school, I have made new friends! I also enjoyed meeting the 'stars' because they are really good at giving you advice if you are stuck, or just talking to them in person."
Dates for Sprint School 2009 will be announced very soon
More Photos
The screen in the Wattbike challenge shows each competitor in their race against the clock and each other
Lunch time as everyone sits down after a really busy morning!
