August 2016

Hotel manager Wayne Jenson with riders Kasperi and Markku Reynolds

Even though the Olympics in Rio are now firmly behind us, the legacy is going to be with us for a while yet, and that’s why we here at the Buckatree wanted to do our bit to keep the excitement going.

With this in mind, we donated a brand new BMX bike to the Wrekin Riders BMX race club in Dawley.

As a Dawley resident myself, I’ve watched the talented youngsters in action, with the Buckatree even hosting many of the riders at the British BMX series a few months ago.

I recently read about the surge in riders since the BMX Olympic rounds in Rio, and this encouraged me to have a look at the facility which is right on our doorstep. It really is fantastic to have a National standard track right here in Telford.

It was brilliant to see such interest, but I knew that not every parent could afford to buy their child a race bike straight away.

With this in mind, I spoke to the club and discovered that whilst they do have bikes to hire to the novice riders, there are far more children than bikes.

The club provided business to us by bringing so many people to the area during the BMX championships, so I thought it was only fair to give something back to them.

I visited the track with my two daughters to hand over the bike, and it’s my hope they’ll start taking part in the novice sessions soon, and, once I’ve recovered from a recent ankle injury, I might even have a go myself!

When I spoke to club coach Kieran Edwards he told me: “We’ve had some fantastic novice and expert training sessions over the summer and we hope the weather will hold out so we can continue training as much as possible.

“There’s no doubt there’s some riders coming through who will certainly be ones to watch in the future.

“We would like to thank Wayne and all at the Buckatree for sponsoring a new club bike – it is generosity like this from the local community which makes it all worthwhile.

“It is exactly what we need – from businesses paying for a corporate trackside banner to donations of services and trades to generous purchases of bikes or equipment – every donation makes a difference.”

If you want to offer any services to the club, make sure you contact Wrekinriders@outlook.com. In the meantime, I’ll start practicing my riding, though we better warn A&E first…