Salt Ayre Cog Set Achieve Go-Ride Clubmark Accreditation

On Saturday 25th June, Salt Ayre Cog Set held a special event to celebrate their achievements over the past year. This included them recently gaining Go-Ride Clubmark Accreditation.

The club started in 2007 and has gone from strength to strength since. On average, over 50 riders attend the regular Saturday morning sessions at Salt Ayre Sports Centre and the club now has over 80 members. The club now has 5 qualified British Cycling Coaches, as well as a large number of volunteers present and helping out with various roles at the Saturday sessions.

Resplendent in their new club jerseys, a number of riders talked on behalf of the club, explaining what it meant to them to be part of the club and how the coaching had improved their riding. Geraldine Smith, MP for North Lancaster (Morecambe and Lunesdale) gave a speech and commented on how impressed she was with seeing the club and how they made such excellent use of the facility. Other guests present were Nikki Penny, Lancashire County Councillor for the Salt Ayre Ward, Jon Barrie, a representative of the Cycling Development Town Committee and Gary Bowker, Lancaster City Council Engineer, who was instrumental in getting the closed road circuit where the club is based re-developed in 2008.

Local rider Ella Sadler-Andrews, who represented Great Britain at the recent European Junior Championships, was present to hand out special prizes to some of the club riders with various achievements over recent weeks.

The club have benefited to redevelopments to the Salt Ayre circuit funded by British Cycling and Sport England, including the resurfacing and widening of the circuit and a large tarmac area where basic cycling skills can be taught. They also have a stock of road and Cyclo-Cross bikes to lend to riders to take part in coaching and racing sessions.

Alex Scoular, British Cycling North West Regional Manager, said: "Congratulations to Salt Ayre Cog Set on achieving Go-Ride Clubmark Accreditation. The club took less than 3 months to complete the accreditation, which is a record in the North West region. On behalf of British Cycling, I would like to thank all the coaches, volunteers and members that have made the club a success, and I look forward to working with them in the future."