Youngsters will be mascots for night

SCHOOLCHILDREN will be encouraged to get on their bikes when a national cycling event comes to North Staffordshire.

The first ever Tour Series, consisting of 10 city centre sprint races around the UK, will arrive in Stoke-on-Trent next Tuesday for its seventh leg.

One of its aims is to inspire more people to take up cycling and 10 city schools have been asked to provide pupils as mascots for each of the competing teams.

The Stone-based CandiTV Pinarello team, which is currently leading the series, visited four schools yesterday to talk to children about the event and cycling.

Team manager Phil Griffiths and professional riders Malcolm Elliott, Russell Downing, Peter Williams and Simon Holt told the youngsters how they were looking forward to their home race after competing all around the country and abroad.

Mr Griffiths said: "We've been to places such as Milton Keynes, Exeter and Woking and we have seen other teams get the support, so it will be good to have the home crowd behind us in Hanley.

"Unlike in other road races the crowd will be able to see the riders go past 30 or 40 times. The only other place you get that is with track races."

Eight-year-old Charlotte Rathbone, a pupil at Eaton Park Primary, Bucknall, will be one of the mascots for the event.

She said: "I'm quite surprised I was chosen to be the mascot. I'm really looking forward to it. It will be really exciting."

The one-hour sprint race through Hanley next week will follow a day of cycle-themed events taking place throughout the city, starting with the Commuter Challenge at 8am.

This will involve a motorist, jogger, bus passenger and a cyclist taking to the roads to see who will be the first to make it from Trentham Hotel to Stoke's Civic Centre.

A biker's breakfast will then be held at 9am, featuring a speech by Crewe's World Champion cyclist Shanaze Reade.

Shanaze will again be the guest of honour at the official opening of Burnwood Primary's new BMX track at 11am.

The Chell Heath school is the first in the country to have its own BMX track, velodrome and mountain bike track.

At 3pm, the 10 student mascots will lead children from 22 schools on a ride through the city centre.

And, after other events, the day will culminate in the Tour Series race itself, as 50 riders complete up to 50 circuits of Town Road, Old Hall Street, Cheapside, Stafford Street and Quadrant Road, from 7pm – starting and finishing outside the Potteries Shopping Centre.

Event manager Richard Radcliffe said: "This is the first time this event has taken place in this country, and it's a cross between track cycling, in which we did so well at the Olympics, winning all those fantastic medals, and road racing.

"This will raise the profile of the city, as it will be broadcast on ITV4 for an hour and should get around 200,000 viewers.

"The motto of Cycling England, which is part-funding the event, is to get more people cycling more often, and more safely, and this is one of the ways we can do that."