British cycling talents will have the honour of learning from the best this week when World...
Two time world champ Victoria Pendleton (GBr). (Image credit: Mitch Friedman)
British cycling talents will have the honour of learning from the best this week when World Champions Victoria Pendleton and Jamie Staff will head up instruction at the DHL Exel Supply Chain Sprint School on Friday August 3rd at the Newport International Velodrome.
Sprint School mentor Craig MacLean is away on other commitments so Vicki and Jamie will be back again to give the riders tips, advice and encouragement. After the last sprint school on June 1st, Vicki had plenty of praise for the initiative, "It's hard to learn the skills and practice some of the techniques," she said.
"So this is a great chance for kids to learn about a specialised area of the sport - sprinting - that doesn't get much focus in the UK at this sort of level. There will always be kids coming through, but giving them a little bit more of an idea of sprinting specifically might help prepare them to get onto other development schemes within British cycling."
The Sprint School aims to give young cyclists the opportunity to meet and learn from some of the world's greatest sprinters, as well as spending the day being coached by British Cycling Talent Team coaches. The schools are designed to allow more young riders aged between 12 and 15 the opportunity to access World Class coaching in a fun and friendly environment. As well as track training, the Sprint School aims to teach young riders about all elements of track racing and includes workshops on subjects such as nutrition, bike maintenance and racing etiquette.
DHL aims for the schools to be inclusive and is keen to allow as many young cyclists as possible access to the school. With every track league in the country requested to nominate two girls and two boys per school the net has been spread wide, and there has been huge demand.
The next two schools will take place back to back at the end of August, on Friday 17th and Friday 31st. They will prepare the riders for their first taste of competitive sprinting at Future Revolution in October this year.
With Britain currently having so much success on the international stage, the youngsters from across the country will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of some of the sports great names such as Jason Queally, Chris Hoy, Jamie Staff and Victoria Pendleton – all of whom won their World, Commonwealth and Olympic Medals in sprinting.
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
