Whitworth students try out cycling at the Velodrome

Competitive cycling proved a huge hit with students from Year 8 at Whitworth Community High School on a trip to Manchester’s Velodrome.

The Able, Gifted and Talented students and some who have been performing well were invited to attend the trip.

 

 

Sam Wellington, 13, said: “It gave us the chance to experience an unusual type of PE lesson, and this was something completely different.”

The hardest thing for all the students was getting used to the bikes that are used in the Velodrome. The pedals and wheels are permanently linked so unlike on a road bike where when you stop pedalling the wheels still turn, if you stop pedalling then bike will stop.

Sam said: “You had to work out that in order to slow down you still had to keep turning the pedals until the bike stopped.”

 

 

However, Sam and Finley Leech, also 13, soon learnt how they operated and were one of the first to ride their bikes up the steep banking of the oval circuit in the Velodrome to reach faster speeds and overtake their friends.

After their time of the circuit was up, the students got to watch young members from Team GB on the banking and then they realised just how fast cyclists could go.

Finley is no stranger to riding bikes and goes mountain biking in Lee Quarry, Bacup, with his dad Ben.

They have also twice completed a 54-mile cycle ride from Blackpool to Whitworth for charity.

Finley said: “We leave Blackpool and then cycle over the hills and the views are amazing; you can see for miles. Each time we do it we raise a couple of thousand pounds for local charities and good causes.”