Last Thursday, pupils from Go-Ride school club, Dowson Primary School, visited the National Cycling Centre (NCC) in Manchester to meet some of the world’s greatest cyclists - the women’s endurance squad from the Great Britain Cycling Team.
On arrival, the pupils were given a guided tour around the NCC and shown the world-class BMX and Track cycling facilities.
Following the tour, the children all got the opportunity to personally meet their cycling heroes; Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell, Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald. The pupils had the chance to ask the women’s endurance team lots of questions and posed for photographs with the elite riders.
Mr Turner, a teacher at Dowson Primary School, said: "It was a great opportunity to ask the team questions and find out more about the life of medal-winning cyclists. The children heard all about how much the riders liked being active and how they got involved with lots of sports at school, not just cycling.
“There were so many wows when the team were asked what medals they had won, hopefully one of our children will be able to stand in front of a class in years to come as an Olympic champion!"
The elite squad then took to the track for a training session, with the pupils watching them whizzing around the Velodrome. The children absolutely loved it and were amazed at how much faster the cyclists look when they were sitting right by the riders on the boards!
All of the children received signed photos of the women’s endurance team and British Cycling presented the school with a signed GB jersey.
Joe Malik, British Cycling’s Go-Ride Coach, said: “Dowson Primary School has been part of the British Cycling Go-Ride programme for a few years now. The school runs regular coaching sessions on Friday evenings for their young riders and some of them have progressed to race regionally and nationally.
“The children all had a fantastic time meeting the Great Britain Cycling Team; it was a brilliant opportunity to inspire the next generation of young cyclists.”
To find out more about British Cycling’s Go-Ride programme, please visit www.britishcycling.org.uk/go-ride.
