Roland Bell was meant to be stepping again at Kettering Biking Membership, earlier than the pandemic struck. 4 years on, he’s nonetheless there, plugging away. “Simply earlier than Covid we have been attending to the purpose the place I hoped I might do a handover and step again,” the 63-year-old tells me over the cellphone from his house. “However as a result of biking was nonetheless permitted, we began a summer time vacation college. All the youngsters turned up. So we carried on going.”
His stepping again quickly turned stepping up. “I used to be successfully left holding the newborn,” he says. “Reasonably than give it up, I made a decision to maintain it going and reinvigorate it. You retain it going as a result of it makes a distinction.”
The IT guide turned off-road secretary at Kettering CC has coached on the membership for nearly a decade. Typifying the kind of volunteer who’s dedicated to their function and goes above and past, Bell has earned the honour of CW’s native hero of the 12 months 2024.
Having joined the membership in 2015, he initially helped out with common organisation and instructing bike upkeep to folks via the membership’s Cyclones organisation for younger individuals. He gained his BC teaching qualification in 2016, and now helps out each Monday evening. His function has many elements, together with teaching the Cyclones, taking care of the membership’s fleet of 25 bikes, loaned to those that want a trip, in addition to establishing cyclo-cross occasions in Kettering.
“I took it on, working teaching periods, doing occasions, the group grew to between 40 to 50 youngsters each Monday earlier than lockdown. We have been very profitable,” Bell explains. “The unique remit was to offer youngsters one thing to do, off the streets, so we attempt to preserve biking accessible to youngsters who don’t essentially cycle.”
Biking ecosystem
The function of the membership goes additional than facilitating a interest, in Bell’s view. “I took very strongly to the concept that biking is a sport for all times. In case you have a look at the pyramid, a small variety of these youngsters might wind up going skilled, however an enormous a part of it’s individuals [at grassroots level], the entire biking ecosystem actually wants these individuals.”
Kettering CC and its Cyclones have averted stretching themselves too thinly, as a substitute specializing in getting individuals into biking. The membership takes significantly its function locally, giving the younger individuals of Kettering one thing to do. It’s not all racing, both, with some children occurring to turn into coaches or volunteers too.
“Reasonably than making an attempt to do all the pieces, we determined to turn into a feeder membership,” Bell says. “We’d get the children within the youngsters at 5 – 6, after they can nearly trip, and produce them on and construct up their expertise. In the event that they confirmed an curiosity in racing or eager to do extra severe competitors, then we’d say, truly, your greatest wager is to go some other place.”
It has labored. The winner of this 12 months’s junior Gent-Wevelgem, Amelia Cebak, got here via the Kettering system earlier than transferring to Tofauti Everybody Energetic, the identical squad as developed Carys Lloyd and Seb Grindley. Cebak will trip for Smurfit Westrock subsequent 12 months.
Bell is evangelical about volunteering, encouraging extra individuals to get entangled. “That is me giving again, it’s my flip,” he says. “I need individuals to return to youth biking, as a result of you possibly can develop right here. Turn out to be a coach, coach the youngsters, the five- to eight-year-olds, it’s mainly herding cats. It’s an expertise, however having accomplished it, it offers you some pretty basic individuals expertise.”
He’s acutely aware that volunteers are a finite useful resource. “We have to consistently preserve nurturing the brand new members coming in,” he provides. “All biking golf equipment are getting older, so we have to preserve the youth teams going, after which preserve these riders involved with the game, so after they quiet down once more [in the local area], they rock up and get entangled.” The individuals of Kettering, and its biking membership, should be very glad that Roland Bell put his stepping down plan on maintain.
This function initially appeared in Biking Weekly journal on fifth December 2024. Subscribe now and by no means miss a problem.
