Youngsters use their pedal power at Ely & District Cycling Club’s junior coaching sessions

An Ely-based cycling club is trying to encourage young people to get on their bikes by holding junior coaching sessions.

Ely & District Cycling Club, which has been in the city since the 1950s, was awarded funding of almost £10,000 from the National Lottery last year, and decided to use the funding to launch its junior section.

The club kick-started its weekly coaching sessions last month, and club secretary, Cliff Loveday says the sessions have proved to be very popular so far.

He said: “The kids really enjoy the sessions. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from parents and we want to use this positivity to grow the junior section.”

The sessions, run by three of the club’s members, teach youngsters how to navigate roads and paths whilst on their bike – all in a traffic-free environment in Sutton.

The club runs two sessions every Wednesday – one for under 13s and one for over 13s – and Mr Loveday wants to grow the junior section even further.

“We have around 16 children coming to the sessions currently, but we want even more so we can keep them running towards the end of the year,” Cliff said.

“If, by coming to our sessions, we can get children to cycle to school or use their bikes more, then that’s great.”

The club is offering three free sessions to new members, with sessions thereafter costing £4.

Coaching sessions for under 13s begin at 6.30pm every Wednesday, with over 13s sessions beginning at 7.30pm at unit five and six, Stirling Place, Elean Business Park, Sutton.

For more information, call Cliff Loveday on 07823 338615 or search ‘Ely & District Cycling Club Juniors’ on Facebook.