Team News: Halesowen A & CC Academy 2023

Halesowen A & CC Academy are proud to announce their biggest line-up of riders to date, with a strong junior squad and an expanded and strengthened team of under-23 riders in 2023

Team News: Halesowen A & CC Academy 2023

Halesowen A & CC Academy are proud to announce their biggest line-up of riders to date, with a strong junior squad and an expanded and strengthened team of under-23 riders in 2023, while new partners will help the existing sponsors to support the team in its mission to provide the best possible performance pathway for all cyclists emerging from its parent club’s coaching system.

The Academy is run as part of the wider Halesowen Athletic and Cycling Club’s cycling section from its base at the Manor Abbey velodrome in Halesowen and has benefited from the cycling section’s sponsorship from Mapei UK since 2020. “We are proud of the association with Mapei, whose pedigree in cycling is legendary,” said HACC chair Dave Viner, “and it is fantastic to see this go into a fourth season.” The club’s contribution to cycling in the West Midlands and nationally was recognised in December when it was named Cycling Club of the Year by Cycling Weekly magazine.

Mapei UK’s backing remains the foundation for 2023, when the legendary “cubes” will again feature prominently on the Academy team kit, but the Academy will also have support from ProVision custom clothing – a partnership that goes back to its foundation in 2015 – Secret Training nutrition, the BikeStow cycle storage systems company, the award-winning BroadBean deli in Ludlow and Swinnerton Cycles in Stoke. New for 2023 is sponsorship from Le Fleur au Soleil gites in France, while the team will also have increased coaching support from Andy Turner Performance Coaching. Fenwicks supply bike care products.

New riders for 2023 are under-23s Charlie Genner, who has spent the last two years racing in Italy and Spain, and Rowan Schaack who joins from VeloRunners. With last year’s stand-out junior Tomos Pattinson moving to Tofauti, three juniors join up: twins Kaleb and Isaak Herbert and long standing Halesowen rider Luke Harris who returns to racing after a break. The team also includes U14 Rose Lewis, winner of this winter’s national U14 cyclo-cross series.

Last year the Academy’s results included a podium for Joe Brookes at the Philippe Gilbert Junior UCI two-day in Belgium, where he and Pattinson also placed in the top 10 overall. There was also a stage win in the Junior Tour of Ireland plus the overall and a stage win at the Newry 3-Day in Northern Ireland. The Academy will also be involved in promoting seven days of road racing in the West Midlands including its own road race on March 19, and the BikeStow 3-Day from June 23-25.

This year’s ambitious race programme will include the Junior Tour of Ireland and the Philippe Gilbert Juniors, while the under-23s will race the Ras Mumhan at Easter, as well as the UK under-23 series, with other major events in the pipeline. “We will have a strong under-23 line-up this year with Charlie and Rowan joining last year’s four riders who come up from the junior ranks,” said team manager Peter Hall, “and this will enable us to race the national calendar while still supporting our home races in the West Midlands. I’m particularly proud of the fact that we make a huge contribution to the local race calendar while offering a big group of riders some great race opportunities.”

Halesowen Academy-Mapei 2023
Joe Brookes, Ryan Brookes, Patrick Fotheringham, Charlie Genner, Luke Harris, Isaak Herbert, Kaleb Herbert, Joe Homer, Billy Laight, Rose Lewis, Luke Mannings, Aaron Mansell, Rowan Schaack, Will Simons.