Le Tour de Pennines

Young people from Smallbridge Youth Club at the start of the 13 Kilometre bike ride with Councillor Amna Mir and Councillor Aftab Hussain

Young people from Smallbridge Youth Club, working with Rochdale Youth Service, arranged a 13 Kilometre bike ride yesterday (Sunday 15 June).

Young people from the youth club have been working under the guidance of Area Youth Worker Mohammed Zarafat and  Jamshed Miah to further develop their interest in cycling and the outdoors whilst working towards achieving the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

The youth club, using the momentum of the forthcoming leg of the Le Tour de France, had both adults and young people from across the four townships of the borough participating in the event.

Local councillors from the Pennines Township were at hand for the opening ceremony where balloons were released followed by the cutting of the ribbon on commencement of the challenge. Local councillors Amina Mir, Aftab Hussain and Janet Emsley were joined by Councillor John Hartley who also participated by cycling through stage one of the challenge.

Amongst the adult cyclists participating in the event was the Council's Director of Children’s Services, Gail Hopper, husband Rob and Rochdale’s member of Youth Parliament, Leon Hollinrake. After completing the route, Gail said: “The route was a challenging ride but we enjoyed it.” Leon also complimented the young people on organising the successful event.

The challenge commenced from the Hollingworth Lake Visitor Centre and followed the Pennine Bridleway and finished at the Watergrove Reservoir. The route was divided into three separate stages, each stage provided the riders with a different challenge: the first stage set the teams upon their off road mountain biking experience; the second stage compromised of some technical elements which required concentration, balance and good judgement and concluded with a one kilometre descent from Leach Hill to Todmorden Road; whilst the final stage was a steady but gruelling incline over four kilometres to the top of Watergrove Reservoir. This route enabled the riders to enjoy and experience some breathtaking scenery of the Pennines.

Rochdale Cycling Club took part and gave support to the youth club by providing some of the equipment and support with marshalling. The club will also be supporting Smallbridge Youth Club by offering bicycle maintenance workshops.

Councillor Amina Mir said “I’m really proud of the work that Rochdale Youth Service does with Smallbridge Youth Club, this event shows the progress that the young people are making in the area. They have successfully organised cohesion events in Smallbridge and now progressed to a borough-wide activity.”

Councillor Aftab Hussain said: “It’s a great way of enabling residents of the borough to experience some of the scenic sites that our township has to offer at our doorstep. What’s more is that it is refreshing to see an event at this scale planned and  managed by an enthusiastic group of young people.”