Holme Valley Wheelers Cycling Club

News

Holme Valley Wheeler’s Sovereign 10 mile Time Trial League - 22nd August 2007

The final round of the Holme Valley Wheeler’s 10 mile Time Trial League was held in cold and windy conditions resulting in most people finishing with slower than normal times. Richard Hey emerged as overall champion and finished in excellent form on the night to record 25.34, showing he can cut it in all conditions.
In the Juvenile section Jack Beardsell has clearly benefited from his Grandad’s coaching and did a solid 34.17 in these rough conditions. Unfortunately, his rival in this age group, James Kellett, punctured and failed to finish. 
Overall the league has proven to be very popular this year with over 40 riders registering for the event since May.
Fastest ride of the league was Carl Saint (Yorkshire Road Club) with 23.05. Consistent performances from Arthur Henshaw who rode every week in all conditions saw him build up a respectable 96 points to take 4th place   Gavin Pilkington (3rd Place) ended the season just 3 points behind Steve Rimmer (2nd Place), who improved steadily as the season progressed.
In the Juvenile section we have seen the Youth Squad take to the road for their first season of proper racing. Ben Kellett in his second season, etched away another two minutes off his personal best time for this tough course and was nudging 27 minutes at the end. Ben came out tops in the Juvenile Section and is clearly showing his class which we hope he can take to the GHS School’s National Championship in September.  Other Youth Squad members have split their Summer between time trialling and the White Rose Youth League at Richard Dunn.
In the Women’s section Rachael Mellor was relatively unchallenged and finished the season with 130 points.  Trish Griffin came second with 35 points, having suffered from a broken foot for most of the early season.

On Sunday (26th August)  the Holme Valley Wheelers are organising a Sportive Cycle Event around the south end of the Pennine Chain.  Some of the Youth Squad are riding a shorter event to help raise money for the British Lung Foundation and to put a few coffers into their development fund.  Other more ‘mature’ riders have entered the demanding 60 and 100 mile events. 

On Wednesday the 29th The Holme Valley Wheelers are running their annual hill climb championship up Wood House at Hinchcliffe Mill 7.00 pm.  The Youth Squad have been receiving specific training for this event and this will also signal the start of their Hill Climb series through out September and October.  We expect the youngster to take a few older scalps on the night!  Come along and watch – if you can’t ride - and voice your support for this tough discipline.

The current Youth Squad have been together for two years and are now showing promising signs working as a team and also as a group of friends who enjoy cycling round the valley. Now sporting the clubs newly designed kit, the squad have an all year round range of activities from Velodrome, Richard Dunn  closed road racing, Time trialling, hill climbing and Off road competitions.  Under the guidance of British Cycling qualified coaches Mark Wilcox and Peter Root, the youngsters are following a long tradition of the Holme Valley Wheelers for helping young riders into the sport, our most recent success being current World Champion Eddie Clancy.  Given this tradition, the Wheelers are supporting the training and development of more coaches so it can expand its capacity to bring young people into the sport in a safe and controlled way that meets all the UK Sports and British Cycling Go-Ride criteria.