Team News: Saint Piran launches Women’s Elite MTB Team

The Saint Piran Cycling Group has today (16th) launched a women’s elite mountain bike team that embeds the team mentality from road cycling to increase women’s participation in off-road cycling.

Team News: Saint Piran launches Women’s Elite MTB Team

The Saint Piran Cycling Group has today (16th) launched one of the most exciting developments in women’s off-road cycling in the past decade. A women’s elite mountain bike team that embeds the team mentality from road cycling to increase women’s participation in off-road cycling.

The Cornish-based Saint Piran Cycling Group is best known for their successful men’s UCI Continental Road Team. But in a shift aligned to their drive to have an impact in racing, cycling and society, Saint Piran has set course to bring more women into mountain biking, cyclocross and gravel over the next five years using their XC team as inspiration and support.

The Saint Piran WRT Mountain Bike Team brings together some of the brightest prospects in the UK’s mountain bike scene to inspire women of all ages to get on two wheels. The team for 2024 will be:

– Grace Inglis – Senior Female Scottish National MTB XC Champion
– Bronwen Jenkinson – Welsh National MTB XC Champion
– Phoebe Roche – Ranked top 10 National Juniors 2023
– Eilish Gilbert – UK 24hr MTB Champion 2021
– Sharn Hooper – consistent National Elite podium placings over the past three years
– Jenny Bolsom – Team owner and Manager and ranked 3rd Female Expert 2023
– Charlotte Gibson – Ranked number two nationally in her category for XC 2023

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The team will support the domestic XC, CX and gravel racing programme and where possible, compete across Europe – particularly in the World Series XC events. Over the next year, each rider has also been contracted to support women’s uptake of the sport in their locality. All riders will regularly attend local cycling community events across the UK, alongside their race programme. Their focus is to race, marshall or support local events to encourage women to either take up off-road cycling as a sport or to simply give it a go.

The Saint Piran Cycling Group already run a bike hire centre in Cornwall, free mountain bike sessions for women in Cornwall and run the women’s road league in the South West. This portfolio of community events will grow throughout the season. Jenny Bolsom, team manager and owner passionately believes in the new team’s approach: “It cannot be right that women are outnumbered four to one in this incredible sport of mountain biking. With such amazing talent as Zoe Backstedt and Evie Richards leading the way, we believe as cycling professionals, we can inspire women to pick up a bike and cycle – maybe for the first time.”

“It is also time for mountain biking to take the best from other cycling disciplines like road and cross and harness the excitement of young people’s interest in our sport. It can only make our sport stronger. In 2024, we want to play our part in making mountain biking a welcoming home for women who want to cycle, building on our family atmosphere.”

The Saint Piran WRT Mountain Bike Team is setting a new trend, taking the group ethic from road cycling into mountain biking, ensuring riders travel and compete together as a single unit. Having run road teams for the past eight years, Jenny and her Saint Piran colleagues have seen the benefit of a team approach to cycling in races such as the Women’s Tour and Tour of Britain. This sense of togetherness and unity will be adopted into the women’s mountain bike team for 2024 and used to drive a co-ordinated approach to participation across the UK.

Jenny continues: “It is strange that our incredible sport is still built around individuals – many riders make their own way to races, receive minimal team support and have little colleague interaction. At Saint Piran we are a family and race in the same way. Every rider gets access to our mental health and sustainability programmes regardless of which bike they ride or on what surface. They also get the full support of our wider team.”

In 2022, Saint Piran launched a comprehensive mental wellbeing programme for all staff and riders. Every member of the mountain bike team will benefit from free access to over 40 mental wellbeing consultants provided by partner EDelia. The Saint Piran Cycling Group is also working with the University of Exeter to put in place a road to net zero plan and continues to make improvements in its environmental sustainability.

More exciting announcements regarding the team’s focus on inclusion will be made in early 2024.