Last Wednesday 40 young riders from all over the West Midlands region descended on Aldersley for the first multi club coaching session. The event proved a real success with lots of positive feedback from riders and parents and further events will now follow.

For some time a number of the club coaches in the West Midlands have been discussing what we can do for those riders who haven’t been on a RSR and also help prepare those who are not yet old enough. The generally agreed solution was to run our own ‘mini RSR’ for riders 10 years and above who hadn’t been on one of the excellent Regional School’s of Racing. As a result it was agreed to run this first session, organised by Wolverhampton’s Craig Ansell, as a pilot.
Just like an RSR the session focused on a series of skills linked to race practice concluding with a workshop and throughout the day there was plenty of emphasis on independence and self sufficiency. All this should help the riders be better prepared when they go to the full RSR and hopefully get more from them.
There is a general feeling that these sessions will not only help produce a larger pool of riders who meet the nomination criteria but that by sending riders of greater ability will in turn result in the Talent Development coaches delivering even greater skills.
Ultimately we hope the results will be greater success for West Midland clubs and an even stronger West Midlands team at UK School Games and inter regional events.
Looking ahead we are planning further sessions during the summer school holidays, possibly with a focus on track and cyclo-cross. Eventually it is hoped we can establish a regular calendar and hope that, like the full RSR’s, one coach at each club will take responsibility for promoting the sessions and putting riders forward. All of this can not happen without the club coaches who’s help was invaluable and it is hoped more can come forward and help with future events.