Gower Riders Cycling Club will soon be celebrating a special milestone.
On Sunday 28th June, the club will be holding their 100th virtual turbo session, and have planned a big, five-hour event on that date, to mark their achievement.
The sessions, which are delivered by volunteer coaches at the club, have taken place every day since lockdown started and have made a huge difference to riders of all ages, and varying ability levels, from many other clubs, across Wales and England.
One young rider in particular has stood out at sessions. 15 year old Ben Fox, from Killay, Swansea, has attended every single virtual turbo session since the very first workout took place on the 19th March.
In addition to his 100 per cent attendance record, he has also raised over £1500 for charity. Ben is now looking forward to adding another 5 hours to his training total during the milestone event.
The 100th session will be delivered on the ‘Zoom’ platform as usual and will include a full 5 hours of turbo training workouts as well as various fun cycling related games and activities like quizzes, home treasure hunts, karaoke & bingo.
The event has attracted public praise from a number of international sportspeople, including former world champion and Olympic triathlete Non Stanford, former Wales rugby international Ian Gough and British professional cyclist and Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist Alex Dowsett, plus many, many more.
Stanford and Dowsett will not only be attending on the 28th, they will also be leading their own turbo workouts as special guest coaches at the event.
The event starts at 8am and will finish at 1pm.
Club Secretary, Phil Walton, who was instrumental in establishing the sessions back in March, said: “Since lockdown started we were keen to establish something that would help keep our members happy and healthy, as they were not able to do this when the restrictions came into place.
The wellbeing of our members was hugely important to us at the time, so I had the idea to start running online turbo sessions, using the Zoom platform, just as an opportunity to get people together.
Walton added: “Sessions have gone from strength to strength and if we’re honest, we didn’t think that getting to 100 sessions would be possible.
But, it’s testament to the enthusiasm and commitment of our volunteer coaches in the club that we are able to look forward to this milestone. It also gives us a useful wet weather opportunity once our normal cycling activity resumes. So, long may it continue.”
Gower Riders have also set themselves a daunting challenge of completing a combined overall distance of 1693km during the event, which equates to the distance from Swansea – Nice.
Nice is the location for Stage 2 of the Tour de France, which was originally planned for the same date.
The club is raising money for the Swansea Young Carers Centre at the YMCA, Swansea.
YMCA Swansea Young Carers Service provides support to young carers aged 8-18 who provide care or intend to provide care to a family member with a physical disability, metal health illness, substance misuse and/or long-term illness. Young carers truly are our hidden heroes and we need your help to continue to provide support and resources for young carers and their families to ensure that they maintain positive mental and physical health and live fulfilled and happy lives.
The club is welcoming donations through the Young Carers’ fundraising page: https://gf.me/u/x9mny5
To be part of the club’s 100th session, you will need a bike with a turbo trainer, or alternatively, an exercise bike, a spin bike or a Wattbike, and then just get in touch for the Zoom meeting details.
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