News: John Barclay Academy Launch

The Pedal Club’s John Barclay Academy made its first public appearance last Wednesday with a launch party at Condor Cycles in Grays Inn Road.

News: John Barclay Academy Launch
by Chris Lovibond |

The John Barclay Academy made its first public appearance last Wednesday with a launch party at Condor Cycles in Grays Inn Road.

The Academy has been created by the Pedal Club with the intention of carrying on the work of its late member, John Barclay, who passed away in May 2023 at the age of ninety three. John had spent over forty years mentoring aspiring young riders, particularly by taking them on continental trips (mainly Belgium) to learn the racing game.

He carried on this work until Covid interrupted things but, almost incredibly in view of his age, he was planning another season for 2023 when he died. John seems to have had a great talent for spotting talent, since the roll call of the young riders he helped reads like the list of British cycling success over the past few decades – it includes Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and many more.

The Pedal Club was well aware of the importance of John’s work and gave him some financial support. Despite his absence, the club decided to give modest amounts of money to the sort of riders he might have helped, but this quickly developed into a plan to give more help than just cash – and so the idea of the John Barclay Academy came into being.

The setting up of the Academy has mostly been the work of Keith Penfold and Graham Temple, and it was Graham who addressed the meeting at Condor’s – here is a summary of his speech: “Our purpose tonight is to continue John Barclay’s work in helping young British riders to take their first steps in continental racing”.

“The John Barclay Academy is now a fully signed up body within British Cycling. Its officers are Pedal Club members and some of John’s old team. We have to thank the Festival Road Club (John’s old club) for their help in giving us access to his old contacts, friends and helpers, but we also have good contacts within the Pedal Club itself, and these include Maurice Burton who enjoyed a successful career, mainly in Belgium”.

“It should be mentioned here that it’s now a bit more difficult to arrange entries for Belgian races than it was in John’s day, and there are now more rules in place intended to ensure the well being of young people. However, after some hard work, we believe we have now ticked all the boxes and plan to run our first trip in April.”

“I would like to thank all of you who have come tonight, including the British Cycling officials, all our sponsors and in particular Condor’s Claire Beaumont who arranged the launch here tonight.”

“It was always John’s practice to help only young riders and that will be the Academy’s policy. In this gathering we have the youth and junior riders Peggy Knox, Oscar Amey and Milo Wills – we see their successes as an inspiration to us and we hope that, with our support, we will see our protegees on many podiums in the future.’

Application for the Academy will be available on line through the Pedal Club’s website page and we look forward to hearing from any youth and junior riders who hope to follow in the wheel tracks of some of the best British riders in recent history.

USEFUL INFORMATION

What is the aim of the Academy?
The aim is to encourage and support young riders. We hope to carry on with John’s excellent work, so the most important task is for us to take young people abroad, particularly to Belgium, so that they can learn the racing game – continental style.

Who will run it?
Graham Temple and Keith Penfold are the first to have their hands on the tiller, but there is already an extensive team of volunteers ready to coach, chaperone, drive and so on.

Funding
The Pedal Club was funding John to a limited extent and none of that money has been used recently, so there are enough funds to start operating. The Academy has already acquired some sponsorship, and fundraising events are planned. It should be noted that an important asset of the Academy is its contacts and its knowledge – these are valuable, but cannot be expressed in financial terms.

Who is it for?
The only initial qualification is age – the Academy will restrict itself to the Junior and Youth categories. Riders from any discipline can apply, although continental trips will mainly be aimed at road racing. Clearly rigid specialisation at this early stage would be a mistake, and examples of cross overs from one style of racing are commonplace. Naturally, candidates would be expected to show at least some aptitude or talent.

Application
Is very straightforward. The Pedal Club’s website ( https://www.thepedalclub.org.uk/ ) has a JBA page (see contents list) At the bottom of this page there is a simple application form with all the necessary instructions.

Finally
The Academy is not intended to be a commercial business. There is no intention to make a profit. It is simply an old style ‘club’ enterprise aimed at encouraging young people to race on bikes.

Chris Lovibond, January 2025.

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