New tracks help fuel next cycling generation in the Borders
Leading cyclists believe a surge in the number of pump tracks opening across the Scottish Borders can help generate the next generation of superstars.Former Scottish mountain bike champion Kerry MacPhee and rising star, Ben Allan, enjoyed a spin around the latest track to open in Stow recently.Both are confident the increased facilities are helping drive forward the sport - in the Borders and across Scotland.Ben, who is one of British Cycling's top hopes in mountain bike cross-country, said: "I grew up near Peebles with a pump track on my doorstep and it taught me everything I needed to know with basic skills."
Pump tracks are designed to create a safe, fun and inclusive area for the likes of BMX bikes, scooters, skateboards and rollerblades.Their design combines rolling jumps with turns that teach the basic skills of carrying momentum, balance and speed.Over the past couple of decades the Borders has produced an endless string of road and off-road cycling champions.While the likes of Ruaridh Cunningham, Isla Short, and Reece Wilson have shone on mountain bike courses, the likes of Oscar Onley and Callum Thornley are regular challengers at some of the biggest road races in the world.
Continued investment in pump tracks - as well as upgrading mountain bike facilities in the Tweed Valley and at Newcastleton - is encouraging more youngsters than ever onto two wheels.Ben, who is about to embark on his first international Under 23s season, added: "Even at a small village like Stow you can see the appetite there is for cycling."Pump tracks are a form of acceleration-progression for bike skills - you learn things really quickly."Almost every town in the Scottish Borders now has its own pump track with three opening in the past year - at Jedburgh, Walkerburn and Stow.
EDF Renewables community liaison officer Kerry MacPhee competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in mountain biking.She said: "I regularly see all of the community benefits that come from EDF Renewable developments, but this is particularly special for me."I'm told that since the pump track opened the children are never off it."Pump tracks are great fun - and that fun can lead to them taking cycling more seriously as they get older."
Funding for the track in Stow came from Scottish Borders Council, as well as Sportscotland, Scottish Cycling, EDF Renewables, SSE Renewables and the National Lottery.Jo McBeath, from the Stow Pump Track fundraising group, said: "The roads aren't always safe to ride on for children so we felt it was vital to have a facility like this in the village."Since opening we have children coming from all over the valley to ride on the pump track."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
On The Road: Musselburgh's quadruple heroes add to the East Lothian town's rich tapestry of footballing success stories
Kirkcaldy and Dysart 0 Musselburgh Athletic 2 No one quite knows who put the mussel into Musselburgh but, two thousand years after the Romans settled there, it rewards an old dodderer fishing for stories.
BBC News
10 hours ago
- BBC News
Your views as Glasgow win & Edinburgh lose in URC quarter-finals
We asked for your thoughts after Glasgow beat Stormers and Edinburgh lost to Bulls in the URC a taste of what you had to say:GLASGOWStuart: Same as last year - game management was spot on. Played in the right areas when it mattered. Hopefully we can do the same next Glasgow starting to peak just at the right What a great result for the Warriors. I thought Tom Jordan was excellent and a good few others. Very proud to be a GW supporter. Bring on Leinster. Two in a row?Charlie: Great victory. Some fantastic attacking play and many excellent performances from the backs. A colossal performance by the departing Henco It appears Edinburgh hit the elevation wall a good 20 minutes before the Bulls, having been in control and playing as well as they have seen all season. A fair result on balance, but strange that our normally prolific ruck penalty count was so low. Stair: Great end of season for Edinburgh. With 40 minutes gone we were the best team. As always we fell away in the third 20, only to come back into the game and almost create an upset. Far better outcome than I thought possible after our home surrender to Zebre some weeks ago. Well done and let's look forward to next year.
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Giro d'Italia winner Simon Yates hails ‘huge moment in my career'
Simon Yates reflected on a 'sweet success' he had been targeting for much of his life after a spectacular and decisive coup in Saturday's final mountain stage ensured he would ride to victory in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday. At 32, the Lancastrian had not been tipped to add to his sole Grand Tour victory, the 2018 Tour of Spain, but in the mammoth stage over the Colle Delle Finestre, he confounded those expectations to win the sport's second most prestigious race, after the Tour de France. 'It's a huge moment in my career, a defining moment maybe,' Yates said after the Giro's closing stage in Rome. 'I don't think anything comes close. I'm just incredibly proud of the whole team over the three weeks. It's a sweet success. 'I've spent a lot of my life targeting this race. There's been a lot of setbacks, and it has been hard to deal with. I'm in disbelief that I have finally managed to pull it off.' Yates, who had been on the verge of winning the 2018 Giro when he endured a dramatic collapse in the pivotal mountain stage, is the third British rider, after Chris Froome and Tao Geoghegan Hart, to win the Italian race. The Lancastrian arrived in Rome wearing all-pink kit with matching pink bike, in honour of the Giro's maglia rosa, and was shepherded safely through the final processional sprint stage to secure final victory. Ahead of him his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Olav Kooij took the final stage in a sprint, as a beaming Yates celebrated in his wake. 'We couldn't wish for a better final weekend,' Kooij said. 'Yesterday was really amazing for the team and today I had to give everything that was left in the legs.' Yates's Giro-winning attack on the crucial climb of the Finestre, the mountain that had dramatically proved his undoing in 2018, stunned onlookers and exploded the overall standings. On social media Geraint Thomas said: 'What is going on?!', as he watched Saturday's drama between the three key protagonists – Yates, Isaac Del Toro and Richard Carapaz – unfold. Reminded that Yates had far more experience of Grand Tour racing than the 21‑year‑old Del Toro, Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour de France, was scathing. 'Do you need experience to realise that third place is pulling away and that, if you stop pedalling, he's going to take time out of you? My son Macs would know that, and he's five years old.' Even Yates seemed overwhelmed by the scale of his achievement on the mountain that had once proven his downfall. 'I always had in the back of my mind that maybe I could come here and close the chapter. Maybe not to take the jersey in the race, but at least the stage, to try to show myself the way I know I can do.' He admitted, though, that he 'really did not believe' such a dream scenario was possible. 'I am not really an emotional person, but coming to the finish I couldn't hold back the tears.' Del Toro, who had appeared like Yates in 2018 destined to win the race, hid his disappointment. 'Yates was the most intelligent,' the Mexican said. 'It was good for his team and how they played the tactics.' But Carapaz, Giro champion in 2019, rounded on the Mexican. 'In the end, Del Toro lost the Giro,' the Ecuadorian said. 'He didn't know how to race and in the end the smartest [rider] won.' Juan Manuel Gárate, Carapaz's EF Education EasyPost sports director, sought to justify the lack of any serious pursuit of Yates. 'There came a moment where you had to decide: 'If Yates goes, let him go. If Del Toro doesn't follow, he loses the GC.' To win, you have to play the game. And with that comes the risk of losing.'
