An enthusiastic cycling club in Newport has reached it’s highest accolade by achieving their Go-Ride and Clubmark accreditation in one fell swoop from British Cycling and Clubmark.

East Newport Cycle Speedway Club is only the second cycling club in Wales to be awarded this prestigious status which was achieved after 12 months of hard work, bringing the club policies and procedures in line with a very comprehensive assessment, covering all aspects of club management.

The Clubmark accreditation route is applied to all sports, and from that process it is only clubs that meet all their strict criteria of good practice who are awarded the coveted seal of approval.
The Go-Ride/Clubmark certificate was presented to excited Club Junior Representatives Aaron Hughes and Louis Harvey by Welsh Cycling representative, Anneliese Heard, who was overjoyed with the success of the club.

“East Newport CSC has worked so hard to achieve Clubmark status. We at Welsh Cycling are very proud of their achievement and are certain more youth clubs across Wales will follow in their footsteps. For us it ensures that a safe, professional club environment is provided for young riders, helping them develop as well as enjoying the sport.”

Leaders of the club were delighted to learn that they had met with the strict criteria for the national award.

Club Secretary, Rob Absalom said, "East Newport Cycle Speedway Club is totally focused on developing all of its members, not just as riders but as people and the Go-Ride/Clubmark award fits very well with the ethos of the club. When we started this process we made a commitment to all concerned that the club would fully embrace the Go-Ride/Clubmark philosophy rather than just fill in some forms and tick some boxes".

Founding member and Club Chairman, Rich Hughes commented, “Cycle sports including cycle speedway have witnessed a real boom in popularity since the recent Olympics and is mainly due to the success of the British Cycling Team at Beijing. The City of Newport has become a real hotspot of cycling activity with the Velodrome and our track being so close. We have worked very hard to attract new talent to our club in the last 12 months and to become the first South West Cycle Speedway Club in the sport to be accredited for providing a safe and welcoming environment for young people has been a very proud moment for us. Our racing numbers have soared as a direct result of working towards our Go-Ride/Clubmark status and we can now boast more than 50 riders in our club.”

The club is always encouraging new members to come and try out the sport and they can be found training indoors at Underwood Leisure Centre Sundays 5pm to 7pm or contact them on their website www.eastnewportcsc.co.uk.


For more information please contact Anneliese Heard on 07932 601807 or anneliese.heard@welshcycling.co.uk